Compliance monitoring method and apparatus

• US 20050187862A1
• Filed: 12/18/2003
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CashEdge Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CashEdge Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dheer, Sanjeev, Sokolic, Jeremy N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,536,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A compliance monitoring system and method identifies an individual or entity to be monitored for account compliance and receives account information associated with the individual or entity. The compliance monitoring system and method obtains holdings in the account and determines whether the holdings in the account comply with a predetermined rule.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying an individual to be monitored for account compliance;

receiving account information associated with the individual;

obtaining holdings in the account; and

determining whether the holdings in the account comply with a predetermined rule.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein obtaining holdings in the account is performed using the account information associated with the individual.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining transactions associated with the account; and

determining whether the transactions comply with the predetermined rule.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the predetermined rule is associated with a financial regulation.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising generating an alert message if the holdings in the account do not comply with the predetermined rule.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising generating an alert message if the holdings in the account do not comply with a plurality of rules that collectively determine account compliance.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein obtaining holdings in the account includes accessing account data via an online communication link.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the account is a financial account with a third party.

9. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the individual is an employee.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein the individual is a customer.

11. A method comprising:

identifying an entity to be monitored for account compliance;

receiving account information associated with the entity;

obtaining holdings in the account; and

determining whether the holdings in the account comply with a predetermined rule.

12. A method as recited in claim 11 further comprising:

retrieving transactions associated with the account; and

determining whether the retrieved transactions comply with the predetermined rule.

13. A method as recited in claim 11 wherein the predetermined rule is associated with a financial regulation.

14. A method as recited in claim 11 wherein the entity is a financial institution.

15. A method comprising:

identifying a first employee to be monitored for account compliance;

identifying a second employee to be monitored for account compliance;

receiving first account information associated with the first employee;

receiving second account information associated with the second employee;

obtaining holdings in the first account and the second account; and

determining whether the holdings in the first account and the second account comply with a predetermined rule.

16. A method as recited in claim 15 further comprising storing information regarding the holdings in the first account and the second account.

17. A method as recited in claim 15 further comprising generating a report summarizing the holdings in the first account and the second account.

18. A method as recited in claim 15 further comprising generating an alert message if the holdings in the first account do not comply with the predetermined rule.

19. A method as recited in claim 15 further comprising generating an alert message if the holdings in the second account do not comply with the predetermined rule.

20. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein the first account is associated with a first financial institution and the second account is associated with a second financial institution.

21. A method comprising:

identifying an individual to be monitored for account compliance;

receiving account information associated with the individual, wherein the account information is associated with accounts at a plurality of financial institutions;

obtaining holdings in the accounts; and

determining whether the holdings in the accounts fail to comply with at least one rule.

22. A method as recited in claim 21 wherein receiving account information includes harvesting data from the accounts.

23. A method as recited in claim 21 wherein receiving account information includes downloading account information from the plurality of financial institutions.

24. A method comprising:

generating a financial recommendation;

communicating the financial recommendation to a compliance monitoring system;

receiving an indication of whether the financial recommendation complies with a predetermined rule; and

implementing the financial recommendation if the financial recommendation complies with the predetermined rule.

25. A method as recited in claim 24 wherein the financial recommendation includes a recommendation to sell a security.

26. A method as recited in claim 24 wherein the financial recommendation includes a recommendation to purchase a security.

27. A method as recited in claim 24 wherein the predetermined rule is associated with a financial regulation.

28. A method comprising:

identifying an entity to which an account holder is to delegate access to data associated with the account holder;

identifying data that the entity is permitted to access;

identifying activities that the entity is permitted to perform; and

storing the identity of the identified entity, the identified data, and the identified activities in a central location.

29. A method as recited in claim 28 wherein the central location is a server accessible via the Internet.

30. A method as recited in claim 28 wherein the data associated with the account holder is financial data collected from a plurality of accounts associated with the account holder.

31. A method as recited in claim 28 wherein the identified data is summary data associated with accounts associated with the account holder.

32. A method as recited in claim 28 wherein the identified data is transaction data associated with transactions in accounts associated with the account holder.

33. A method as recited in claim 28 wherein the identified data includes summary data associated with accounts associated with the account holder and transaction data associated with transactions in accounts associated with the account holder.

34. A method as recited in claim 28 wherein the account holder is an employee of the entity.

35. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a computer program that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

identify an employee to be monitored for compliance;

receive account information associated with the employee;

identify transactions associated with the account; and

determine whether the transactions associated with the account comply with a predetermined rule.

36. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 35 wherein the one or more processors further:

obtain holdings in the account; and

determine whether the holdings in the account comply with the predetermined rule.

37. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 35 wherein the one or more processors further generate an alert message if the transactions associated with the account do not comply with the predetermined rule.

38. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 35 wherein the predetermined rule is associated with a securities regulation.