Apollo Fintech taps ThetaRay for Sonar AML monitoring tech

South Africa’s Apollo Fintech has tapped ThetaRay for its AI-powered cross-border payments monitoring technology Sonar. The tech will be deployed to monitor and screen transactions on its new Knox Wire service, a bank-to-bank cross-border payments system.

Sonar will allow Apollo to safely expand its Knox Wire network

Apollo Fintech CEO Stephen McCullah says utilising ThetaRay’s anti-money laundering (AML) solution will allow the firm “to expand our network of partner financial institutions”.

Knox Wire enables 30,000 financial institutions to offer their clients near-instant cross-border payments to over 200 countries in 150 currencies with lower transactions costs. “Knox Wire was built to set a new global standard for network size and settlement speed,” McCullah adds.

ThetaRay says its “artificial intelligence intuition” technology can detect known and unknown threats, with a 95% detection rate and 99% reduction in false positives.

The technology analyses client/payer/payee data and risk indicators to detect anomalies across the $35 trillion cross-border payments market.

Sonar can detect money laundering activity conducted by shell people and companies, create customer identities to isolate high-risk beneficiary activity, identify complex risk patterns and screen transactions of sanctioned individuals.

Apollo Fintech joins the likes of Payoneer and Mashreq Bank in utilising ThetaRay’s Sonar SaaS technology.