Ghana's Zeepay to use ThetaRay's AI to monitor transfers

Ghanaian mobile financial services company Zeepay has partnered with Israeli ThetaRay to use its AI-powered transaction monitoring technology SONAR SaaS to monitor remittance transactions into Africa.

ThetaRay's SONAR SaaS will help in detecting financial crime for Zeepay's remittance transactions and the partnership will also assist the Israeli company's expansion plans into the African market.

In a statement, ThetaRay said even though remittances are an important method of bringing money into low-income countries and unbanked communities, they can also be used as a conduit for financial crimes for illicit funds.

The majority of Zeepay's business is made up of remittances therefore, the company needed to replace its previous rules-based monitoring solution with an AI-based solution. A solution that could detect the first signs of the most sophisticated financial crime schemes, the statement continued.

How it works

SONAR SaaS is a form of AI that makes better decisions with no bias or thresholds. Enabling companies to implement a risk-based approach that identifies suspicious activity.

It creates a full picture of customer identities, including across complex, cross-border transaction paths. This enables the rapid discovery of both known and unknown money laundering threats, with up to 99% reduction in false positives compared to rules-based solutions, the statement added.

"AI technology with the ability to prevent financial crimes is essential to fintech companies like Zeepay and is a growing necessity," said Zeepay MD Andrew Takyi-Appiah.

Want to know more about mobile financial services in Africa? Check out our dedicated Fintech content channel here on Connecting Africa.

Zeepay's head of compliance added that ThetaRay's AI feature will help improve actionable alerts by reducing false alerts related to remittance transactions.

ThetaRay CEO Mark Gazit said Zeepay should not have to worry about its technology being exploited while enabling foreign workers to send money home to their families.

"We are proud to provide an AI solution that can stop criminals in their tracks so Zeepay can continue to promote financial inclusion and grow its business," he concluded.

*Top image source: African map photo created by Allexxandar - www.freepik.com.

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa