Leading Anti-Money Laundering Systems Provider to Enter Japanese Market

Located in Tokyo, the new office will deliver direct sales and support for Fortent's anti-money laundering monitoring and detection systems to Japanese financial institutions and partners, including IBM Japan. In addition to its technology products, Fortent will offer a full suite of risk and compliance solutions to the Japanese market.

Recently, Fortent received a commitment from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., one of the world's largest financial institutions, to implement Fortent's anti-money laundering technology throughout the bank's major overseas branches.

"Tokyo is one of the three leading financial centers in the world, making it a key area of expansion for us in the financial sector," says Robert Binney, Vice Chairman of Fortent. "Our new local footprint, combined with our global expertise and superior technology, enables us to respond quickly to the needs of Japanese financial organizations and help them successfully address the increasingly stringent anti-money laundering mandates both at home and around the world."

As a leader in global compliance programs for more than 15 years, Fortent was funded by a significant equity commitment from private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Warburg Pincus has invested approximately $25 billion in more than 550 companies across the world, including more than $2 billion in Asia since 1994. Fortent is led by a management team with many decades of experience in executive positions at major financial institutions and the world's top technology companies.

Fortent's CEO, Sandy Jaffee, came to Fortent after extensive global experience at Citibank. Ms. Jaffee was President and CEO of Citibank's Global Securities Services, where she was in charge of Citibank's securities processing, record-keeping, and administration businesses. Ms. Jaffee moved to Warburg Pincus as Entrepreneur-in-Residence before joining Fortent as CEO in 2005.

As Vice Chairman of Fortent, Mr. Binney, who focuses on Fortent's operations outside of the United States, has more than 30 years of relationship management and business development experience at Citibank and Chase Manhattan. Prior to his executive role in Global Securities Services at Citibank, Mr. Binney helped develop Chase's corporate finance business in Hong Kong and served as Chase's Chief Country Officer in Tokyo.

Japanese financial institutions are facing tougher demands from law enforcement for information about customer banking transactions, part of a growing international effort to combat money laundering and terror financing. The Japan Financial Intelligence Office (JAFIO), the financial intelligence unit established by Japan's Financial Services Agency, has seen the number of Suspicious Transaction Reports it collects grow from just over 12,000 in 2001 to more than 113,000 in 2006. In addition, the passage of a 2003 law strengthening requirements on customer identification has mandated that financial institutions adopt enhanced due diligence procedures for individual and corporate customers opening accounts or initiating cash transactions exceeding a certain amount.

Within the next year, Japan will undergo a joint review of its anti-money laundering procedures by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental policy-making body founded by the G-7 in 1989, and its affiliate Asia/Pacific Group, which seeks to promote FATF principles across the region. The report will spotlight Japan's effectiveness in meeting global anti-money laundering standards, putting pressure on both regulators and financial institutions to have effective systems in place.

"With the threat of enforcement action not only by the Japanese government, but also by overseas agencies that regulate banking operations throughout the world, the Japanese financial sector is aware of the reputational risk at stake," says Mr. Binney, who has more than 30 years of experience as a senior business executive advising top Japanese financial institutions and companies and working closely with government officials. "We are committed to helping customers reduce this risk and ensuring that our compliance systems keep our customers' day-to-day business at peak profitability." -Fortent