How Platino Consulting’s Sanctions Screening Revolutionized STCS Compliance for a Leading Securities Dealer
When a securities dealer struggled to keep pace with Suppression of Terrorism/Canada Sanctions reporting (STCS) and the accompanying risk of regulatory fines, Platino Consulting stepped in to deliver our proprietary transformative automation and screening solution. By integrating our AI-driven sanctions screening engine with the client’s existing trade reporting workflows, we slashed manual processing time by 95% and eliminated reporting backlogs. The Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) regained over 300 hours per year—time reallocated to proactive risk assessments and strategic program enhancements—while the firm achieved full, on-time STCS reporting compliance.
The Challenge
Securities dealers in Canada must file STCS Reports—monthly filings to provincial securities regulators under federal provisions like the Criminal Code (Canada) and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act Securities Administrators. Even a “nil” report (indicating no holdings of Designated Persons) must be lodged by the 14th of each month Securities Administrators. For our client—a growing securities dealer with over CAD $400 million in assets under administration—the manual retrieval of dozens of sanction lists, cross-referencing thousands of counterparties, and preparing signed monthly filings consumed over 300 compliance-work hours quarterly. The CCO faced repeated “near-miss” notifications from the regulator due to late filings and feared potential penalties of up to CAD $1 million per instance OSC.
Our Solution
1. AI-Powered Screening Engine
We deployed an AI-driven sanctions-screening engine that ingests all federal and UN consolidated sanction lists in real time. Natural language processing handles name variations and alias matching, while machine-learning models prioritize high-risk hits, reducing false positives by 90%.
2. Seamless Workflow Integration
Using robotic-process automation (RPA), we connected the screening engine directly to the client’s trade-reporting system, automating data extraction of all counterparty names from STCS filings in under 5 minutes per cycle. Profiles flagged for potential matches are routed into an interactive dashboard—enabling swift CCO review and sign-off.
3. Continuous Monitoring & Reporting
Our proprietary platform generates the STCS Report (including nil declarations) automatically on a configurable schedule, emails it directly to the designated securities regulator portal, and archives signed audit trails. The system also issues alerts if any sanctioned-entity exposures are detected, ensuring rapid remediation.
Results & Benefits
300 → 60 compliance hours per quarter: The client cut manual screening time by 80%, saving over 240 hours annually for the CCO and team
100% on-time filings: No missed deadlines or late-filing penalties since go-live, up from 3 near-miss notices in the previous year
Reduced false positives: AI models decreased unproductive alerts by 90%, further boosting team morale and focus
Strategic reallocation: Freed from screening chores, the CCO launched two new enterprise-wide risk-assessment initiatives, strengthening governance and controls
Why It Matters
In today’s fast-paced regulatory landscape, compliance teams face mounting workloads and shrinking budgets. Our success story demonstrates that outsourced sanctions screening is not just a cost-center tool—it’s a force-multiplier that:
Eliminates manual bottlenecks,
Guarantees deadline adherence, and
Liberates senior leaders to drive value-add initiatives.
If your firm is wrestling with STCS or similar sanctions-reporting demands, let us show you how to transform compliance from a reactive chore into a proactive strategic asset.
Contact us to schedule a consultation call, where we can discuss how Platino Consulting’s sanctions screening services can help your compliance program.
