Interview: Trisha Kothari, Cofounder & CEO of Unit21
Oct 19, 2022
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Trisha Kothari, co-founder & CEO of Unit21, discusses breaking data silos in fraud risk management, enabling fraud professionals to manage models without engineering support, and the impact of the regulatory environment on Unit21's customers.
Breaking data out of silos is essential for effective fraud risk management.
Companies need to adopt an infrastructure-based approach that leverages the full range of available data to mitigate fraud risks effectively.
Deep dives
Unit 21: Empowering Risk and Compliance Teams
Unit 21, a no-code risk and compliance infrastructure solution, helps businesses manage fraud and AML risks. They empower risk and compliance teams to proactively prevent fraud rather than reactively detect it. By utilizing data, automation, and infrastructure, Unit 21 enables companies to have a comprehensive view of their data, allowing them to identify suspicious activities and potential fraud rings. Their goal is to lower fraud losses, reduce false positives, and drive better business value through a proactive approach to risk and compliance. Companies are shifting towards a more metrics-driven mindset, focusing on efficient and effective fraud prevention strategies.
Challenges and Priorities in Risk and Compliance
Unit 21 conducted a survey of 231 risk and compliance experts to understand the industry's priorities. The top three priorities identified were meeting compliance requirements, reducing the impact on revenue and false positives, and optimizing the onboarding process for user security. Legacy vendors and limited engineering resources prevent companies from being agile in responding to fraud vectors. Risk and compliance teams are set up to fail without adequate support and resources. To address these challenges, companies need to move beyond reliance on point solutions and adopt an infrastructure-based approach that leverages the full range of available data.
Navigating Regulatory Issues and Peer-to-Peer Fraud
Unit 21 recognizes the importance of navigating evolving regulatory issues in the financial industry. Sponsor banks in the banking as a service model face challenges in adapting to new risks introduced by partnering with fintech companies. Leveraging technology to scale processes and oversee compliance becomes crucial. In the peer-to-peer space, mitigating fraud risks is essential, especially with the rise of instant payments that cannot be reversed. Unit 21 emphasizes the need for companies to analyze and understand all their data rather than relying on siloed risk scores. By combining different data points, companies can identify fraud patterns and mitigate risk more effectively.
In this episode, I talk to Trisha Kothari, co-founder and CEO of fraud and AML infrastructure platform Unit21.
We had a chance to talk about:
* Why breaking data out of silos is key to effective fraud risk management
* Unit21’s biggest takeaways from 230+ conversations with fraud and AML professionals
* Why enabling fraud professionals to manage models and rules without requiring engineering support is a game changer
* How the regulatory environment — including around BaaS — is impacting Unit21’s customers
* …and more!
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