Systems and methods for USA Patriot Act compliance

1. A method comprising:

assembling a plurality of data elements descriptive of risk characteristics of a designated customer, wherein at least one data element is descriptive of risk characteristics determined by a government, and wherein the assembled data elements comprises at least ten data elements selected from the group consisting of physical country, total employees, employees here, primary SIC, local activity code, control year, incorporation year, site ownership, history indicator, import indicator, export indicator, count of independent proofs of identity, total trade payments, high credit, average credit, secured filings indicator, suits/judgments indicator, claims indicator or liens, annual sales volume, PAYDEX score, statement date, financial embarrassment indicator, other special event, operating special event, criminal activity, disaster special event, financial/legal special event, debarments count, headquarters country code, parent country code, domestic ultimate country code, global ultimate country code, out-of-business indicator, severe risk indicator, and one or more data elements each indicating a presence or absence on a government control list;

weighting a selected plurality of the assembled data elements with a weight relative to a risk indicated by values of the assembled data elements; and

combining the weighted data elements into one or more indices representative of a know-your-customer risk of the designated customer,

wherein the assembled data elements and the weights are selected so that the one or more indices are representative of United States Patriot Act compliance risk.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein numerical weights are assigned in dependence on the values of a plurality of the data elements, and the assigned weights are combined by adding the values.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one weight is assigned in dependence on an activity of the designated customer being in an identified higher risk industry.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one weight is assigned in dependence on a location associated with the designated customer being on a list established by a government of higher risk countries.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one data element indicating a presence or absence of the designated customer on a list established by a government of higher risk entities.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the weighting comprises choosing relative weights for the selected plurality of assembled data elements such that physical country has a relative weight of 50 or less, total employees has a relative weight of 5 or less, employees here has a relative weight of 5 or less, primary SIC has a relative weight of 15 or less, local activity code has a relative weight of 15 or less, control year has a relative weight of 10 or less, incorporation year has a relative weight of 5 or less, site ownership has a relative weight of 5 or less, history indicator has a relative weight of 20 or less, import indicator has a relative weight of 5 or less, export indicator has a relative weight of 5 or less, proof of right count has a relative weight of 20 or less, total trade payments has a relative weight of 10 or less, high credit has a relative weight of 5 or less, average credit has a relative weight of 5 or less, secured filings indicator has a relative weight of 1 or less, suits/judgments indicator has a relative weight of 2 or less, claims indicator or liens has a relative weight of 2 or less, annual sales volume has a relative weight of 10 or less, PAYDEX score has a relative weight of 5 or less, statement date has a relative weight of 5 or less, financial embarrassment indicator has a relative weight of 10 or less, other special event has a relative weight of 10 or less, operating special event has a relative weight of 10 or less, criminal activity has a relative weight of 10 or less, disaster special event has a relative weight of 10 or less, financial/legal special event has a relative weight of 10 or less, debarments count has a relative weight of 50 or less, headquarters country code has a relative weight of 50 or less, parent country code has a relative weight of 50 or less, domestic ultimate country code has a relative weight of 50 or less, global ultimate country code has a relative weight of 50 or less, out-of-business indicator 75, and severe risk indicator has a relative weight of 70 or less.

7. The method of claim 1 , at least one determined index is representative of overall risk of the designated customer, wherein the overall risk is determined by combining a majority of the weighted, assembled data elements.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a user request for risk assessment of one or more designated customers, and returning to the user the determined risk indices for each designated customer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one weight is assigned in dependence on an activity of the designated customer being in an identified higher risk industry, and at least one weight is assigned in dependence on a location associated with the designated customer being on a list established by a government of higher risk countries, and at least one data element indicating a presence or absence of the designated customer on a list established by a government of higher risk entities.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one determined index is representative of a certainty of identification of the designated customer.

11. The method of claim 10 ,

wherein the assembled data elements comprises at least four data elements selected from the group consisting of incorporation year data, total trade payment data, financial embarrassment data, secured filings indicator data, suits/judgments indicator data, claims indicator data, positive 8 ( a ) firm indicator data, and debarments count data, and

wherein the index that is representative of the certainty of identification of the designated customer equals a number of values for at least four data elements selected from the group consisting of incorporation year data, total trade payment data, financial embarrassment data, secured filings indicator data, suits/judgments indicator data, claims indicator data, positive 8 ( a ) firm indicator data, and debarments count data.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the index that is representative of the certainty of identification of the designated customer increases as a number of data elements with values requiring positive identification of the designated customer increases.

13. A product comprising a computer readable medium having encoded instructions for causing a computer system to perform the method of claim 1 .

14. A system for know-your-customer risk assessment comprising: facilities configured to communicate with a plurality of information services, and

a processor operatively coupled with the facilities for performing the steps of

(i) communicating to at least one information service a query for data elements concerning a designated customer,

(ii) assembling a plurality of data elements communicated from the information services descriptive of risk characteristics of the designated customer, wherein at least one data element is descriptive of risk characteristics determined by a government, and wherein the assembled data elements comprises at least ten data elements selected from the group consisting of physical country, total employees, employees here, primary SIC, local activity code, control year, incorporation year, site ownership, history indicator, import indicator, export indicator, count of independent proofs of identity, total trade payments, high credit, average credit, secured filings indicator, suits/judgments indicator, claims indicator or liens, annual sales volume, PAYDEX score, statement date, financial embarrassment indicator, other special event, operating special event, criminal activity, disaster special event, financial/legal special event, debarments count, headquarters country code, parent country code, domestic ultimate country code, global ultimate country code, out-of-business indicator, severe risk indicator, and one or more data elemements each indicating a presence or absence on a government control list;

(iii) weighting each of the assembled data elements with a weight relative to a risk indicated by values of the assembled data elements; and

(iv) combining the weighted data elements into one or more indices representative of a know-your-customer risk of the designated customer,

wherein the assembled data elements and the weights are selected so that the one or more indices are representative of United States Patriot Act compliance risk.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising facilities configured to communicate with at least one user, and wherein the processor further receives a user request for risk assessment of one or more designated customers, and returns to the user the determined risk indices for each designated customer.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one user request is received as a request transaction, and wherein a response transaction comprising one or more data screens is returned to the user.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the data elements assembled and the weightings of selected plurality of the assembled data elements are selected so that the one or more indices are representative of United States Patriot Act compliance risk.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor assigns numerical weights in dependence on the values of a plurality of the data elements, and combines the assigned weights by adding the values.