ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SALV
Prior to Salv’s launch in 2019, 1 out of 4 major banks were faced with fines for anti-money laundering (AML) breaches This is a shocking number, but no surprise given that the United Nations currently estimates that more than 99% of global money laundering is not being stopped. It has become increasingly common to see large companies under fire for a money laundering scandal, which is then followed by sinking stocks. To make things more convoluted, the number of computer viruses has increased dramatically in the last 15 years, making online banking riskier, despite the massive shift to internet banking services.
That’s where Taavi Tamkivi, Jeff McClelland, and Sergei Rumjantsev all come in. With the three co-founders bringing different backgrounds to the table – in risk assurance, banking and software engineering – they identified the dire need for an anti-money laundering, crime-fighting platform. After pooling their skills together, Estonian-based Salv was launched in 2019 to fight the modern Al Capones of the world. Before Salv, banks were alone in fighting criminals – unlike the criminals who collaborate and share data, there was no way for banks to securely exchange information. Salv is finally changing the game: using a user-friendly AML platform, they have already begun to help the “good guys” start to win again by creating a more unified network to stop fraud.
“Villains cooperate and share networks to reroute the data, financial institutions should collaborate to be able to fight the increased security risks.”
Tiina Hiller
Head of Marketing and Communication
As a member of Mastercard Lighthouse in Spring 2019, they were able to test their initial prototype and completely transform their product. Going into the program, Salv was a B2B product at its core. However, after working with some of our experts in our workshops, they pivoted and signed a contract with Swedbank and SEB for proof of concept and agreed to start testing their prototype following Lighthouse. Shortly after, two more banks joined the pilot program.
“During the program multiple ideas and opportunities were discussed, then our team presented another angle and that ideas that glued nicely with the participants and changed our focus for the company when we finished the program.”
Tiina Hiller
Head of Marketing and Communication
Since Salv is dealing with an issue never dealt with previously (AML 6 is coming out soon), it is often challenging for them to navigate unchartered waters, such as information exchange laws. Salv is certainly on the right track, though; recently their global launch was featured in Bloomberg news – an impressive achievement for any company, let alone one that is less than 2 years old.
Especially in age of coronavirus, where digital financial services are seeing large growth, it’s especially important that there is a strong network between enterprises that keeps our financial ecosystem secure. Having partnered with Salv, we are confident that Salv is on the right track to creating this security, and we look forward to watching their growth
