Risk Management Customer Registry

1 . A method for managing risk associated with a financial transaction, the method comprising:

registering risk related information descriptive of a customer of a intermediary financial institution;

generating a certification comprising the risk related information and associating the certification with the customer;

receiving an instruction to convey the certification associated with the customer to a primary financial institution; and

causing the certification to be conveyed to the Primary Financial Institution.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein conveying the certification descriptive of a customer comprises the steps of:

providing an indicator identifying the customer to the primary financial institution;

transmitting a network address at which a certification can be accessed according to the indicator identifying the customer; and

authorizing access to the certification.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the certification is transmitted prior to the primary financial institution opening an account to the benefit of the customer of the intermediary financial institution.

4 . The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the steps of:

performing a risk management clearinghouse search related to the customer; and conveying the results of the risk management clearinghouse search to the Primary Financial Institution.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the certification is transmitted prior to execution of a financial transaction by the primary financial institution, wherein the financial transaction is associated with the customer.

6 . The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the step of ascertaining the completeness of the certification information conveyed.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein a name of the customer is kept anonymous to the Primary Financial Institution.

8 . The method of claim 1 additionally comprising the steps of receiving updated information relating to the certification and transmitting the updated information to a Primary Financial Institution that had previously received a certification relating to the customer.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein conveying the information descriptive of a customer comprises the steps of:

storing the certification on a resource accessible via a particular network address;

associating the certification with an identifier unique to the customer; and

transmitting the identifier and the network address to the Primary Financial Institution.

10 . A method for managing risk associated with a financial transaction initiated by an intermediary financial institution, the method comprising:

registering information descriptive of a customer with a neutral entity;

initiating a transaction with a primary financial institution; and

issuing an instruction to the neutral entity to convey the registered information descriptive of a customer to the primary financial institution.

11 . The method of claim 10 additionally comprising the steps of:

transmitting an indication of a customer identity to the Primary Financial Institution; and

authorizing access to a certification compiled by the neutral entity, wherein the certification comprises the information descriptive of the customer.

12 . The method for claim 10 additionally comprising the steps of:

transmitting an update to information descriptive of the customer to the neutral entity; and

transmitting to the neutral entity an instruction to convey the updated information to one or more Primary Financial Institutions to which a certification associated with the customer has been transmitted.

13 . The method of claim 12 additionally comprising the step of:

transmitting an indication to one or more primary financial institutions regarding the existence of updated information.

14 . The method of claim ii additionally comprising the step of providing to the neutral entity a statement guaranteeing the veracity of the registered information.

15 . A system for managing risk associated with a financial transaction initiated by an intermediary financial institution, the system comprising:

a computer server accessible with a system access device via a communications network; and

executable software stored on the server and executable on demand, the software operative with the server to cause the server to:

register risk related information descriptive of a customer of the intermediary;

generate a certificate comprising the risk related information and associating the certificate with the customer;

receive an instruction to convey certification associated with the customer to a primary financial institution; and

cause the registered information descriptive of a customer to be conveyed to the primary financial institution.

16 . A system for managing risk associated with a financial account initiated by an intermediary, the system comprising:

a computer server accessible with a system access device via a communications network; and

executable software stored on the server and executable on demand, the software operative with the server to cause the server to:

register information descriptive of a customer with a neutral entity; initiate a transaction related to a financial account with a primary financial institution; and

issue an instruction to convey the information descriptive of a customer which is registered with the neutral entity to be conveyed to the primary financial institution.

17 . Computer executable program code residing on a computer-readable medium, the program code comprising instructions for causing the computer to:

receive risk related information descriptive of a customer of the intermediary;

scrub the risk related information descriptive of a customer of the intermediary;

perform a risk clearinghouse search related to the customer of the intermediary;

organize the risk related information into a certification associated with the customer;

receive an instruction to convey certification associated with the customer to a primary financial institution; and

cause the registered information descriptive of a customer and results of the risk clearinghouse search to be conveyed to the primary financial institution.

18 . A computer data signal embodied in a digital data stream comprising data relating to a financial account, wherein the computer data signal is generated by a method comprising the steps of:

registering information descriptive of a customer with a neutral entity;

receiving an instruction to convey the information descriptive of a customer to a primary financial institution; and

causing the registered information descriptive of a customer to be conveyed to the primary financial institution.

19 . The computer data signal of claim 18 wherein the data signal is additionally generated by the steps:

receiving an update to registered information; and

transmitting the update to previous recipients of the registered information.

20 . The computer data signal of claim 18 wherein the registered information comprises a risk management search of anti-terrorist related publications.

21 . A method of conducting a financial transaction, the method comprising:

transmitting the data descriptive of a particular financial transaction participant to a computer system accessible via a communications network, wherein the computer server is operative with executable software to:

receive into the computer system the data descriptive of the particular financial transaction participant;

generate a certification comprising at least some of the data descriptive of the particular financial transaction participant;

receive into a computer system data descriptive of informational artifacts with content related to at least one of: reputational risk, regulatory risk and legal risk;

determine if one or more informational artifacts with content related to at least one of: reputational risk, regulatory risk and legal risk, reference the transaction participant;

transmit the certification; and

if any informational artifacts reference the transaction participant then transmit data descriptive of the content of one or more informational artifacts which reference the transaction participant;

receiving the certification;

receiving any data descriptive of the content of informational artifacts which reference the transaction participant and was transmitted by the computer server; and

determining a course of action related to the financial transaction based upon at least one of: the certification and the data descriptive of the content of the informational artifact referencing the transaction participant.

22 . The method of claim 21 wherein the course of action comprises proceeding with the financial transaction.

23 . The method of claim 21 wherein the course of action comprises refusing to proceed with the financial transaction.