Artscapy chose NorthRow to verify and validate their clients, safeguarding their platform and collectors against fraudulent activities and undue risk.
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“Our collaboration with NorthRow enabled us to meet our business needs to ensure security for our collectors. NorthRow provides us with a comprehensive overview of the verification status of individuals and businesses involved in our daily operations.”
Maria Zgurieva
Head of Operations
Background
Founded in 2020 by Alessandro and Emilia De Stasio, Artscapy is on a mission to make art collecting and investing accessible and easy by removing entry barriers for both novice and experienced individuals by leveraging technology to offer a comprehensive suite of services that streamline the art collecting journey, including asset management, valuation, advisory, brokerage and insurance.
Since then, Artscapy has successfully positioned itself as the leading end-to-end art investment account pioneering innovation in a market where innovation is slowly adopted. Artscapy is disrupting the traditional art world through technology and an unbiased focus on the collector. The solution bridges transparency and accessibility, creating a safe and holistic environment for collectors to conveniently access all the ancillary services necessary to build and grow their portfolios.
Key benefits
Helping Artscapy to onboard new customers in the simplest, safest, and fastest way.
Simple processes
More effective organisation and tracking of checks.
Improved onboarding
Real-time and automated customer verification.
Ensuring compliance
Supporting continuing compliance with KYC and KYB requirements.
The Challenge
To deliver the very best customer onboarding experiences
The art market as a whole is often associated with high-value assets and the relative ease of transferring art can create vulnerabilities to money laundering and financial crime. The industry’s appealing blend of luxury, anonymity, and often low oversight make it an ideal sector for criminals to obscure illicit funds.
As such, Artscapy takes it upon themselves with the utmost importance to verify and validate clients to safeguard their platform and collectors against fraudulent activities and undue risk. These actions maintain their reputation as the ‘trusted advocate for collectors and investors.’
As an HMRC-registered art market participant, Artscapy identifies the individual or corporate entity they are dealing with in any transaction. As part of the due diligence process, anyone identified also has to verify and confirm their identity, either through ID documents, official corporate records, or electronic verification methods.
At a time when the business was still evolving, Artscapy sought an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance solution that would meet their early needs but would also support them as the company grew.
Leading the compliance process for Artscapy, their Head of Operations, Maria Zgurieva, explains more: “As a registered HMRC art market participant, we embarked on a journey to find the ideal partner for our AML compliance needs several years ago.
“We evaluated various verification providers but struggled to find the right balance between our (then) emerging business requirements and the available product and service offerings.
WHY NORTHROW?
Finding the ideal partner for AML compliance
Artscapy looked for a partner to support the delivery of comprehensive Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), Identification and Verification (ID&V), and AML checks with a consistent approach for their clients.
Maria shares why NorthRow stood out as their vendor of choice: “Our collaboration with NorthRow enabled us to meet our business needs to ensure security for our collectors. NorthRow provides us with a comprehensive overview of the verification status of individuals and businesses involved in our daily operations.”
THE BENEFITS
Streamlined client onboarding with a customisable platform
Incorporating WorkStation into their onboarding process, client due diligence and onboarding client due diligence and onboarding is now an efficient and smooth process.
The software provides the team with a fully customisable verification solution that aligns with their unique requirements, while delivering the flexibility to simplify their client onboarding process, meet local regulations, and maintain operational efficiency.
With the ability to fine-tune their KYC and KYB onboarding processes to focus on the most relevant risks for their business, the team at Artscapy now have a comprehensive, tailored solution for AML compliance.
Maria explains more: “NorthRow's custom setup allows us to tailor our coverage of countries and jurisdictions to our specific business verification needs. The alert indicators are aligned with our risk appetite and can be adjusted as needed. We can choose the appropriate KYC and KYB verification methods for each scenario and leverage both integrated verification services and direct access to the NorthRow dashboard. This flexibility greatly simplifies my role as Compliance Lead.
“The support team is exceptional, always providing detailed answers to my questions. Additionally, NorthRow's website offers many informative articles and webinar invitations that keep me up-to-date,” she adds.
What Now?
Efficient, scalable AML for Artscapy’s growth goals
As for the future of Artscapy’s partnership with NorthRow, with an ambitious expansion roadmap on the horizon, Artscapy is set to increase its business not only in the UK but also to continental Europe and US, targeting 10,000 collectors by early 2025. Having an AML solution that can scale alongside them is crucial.
With a platform centred around adaptability and scalability, Maria and the team can use NorthRow to effectively manage risks and streamline their AML processes as the company expands, allowing them to focus on strategic growth initiatives while maintaining compliance with rigorous regulatory standards.
“As our company continues to grow and expand its product and service offerings, we anticipate an increased demand for verifications and a need to expand the coverage of verified jurisdictions for business verification purposes. Additionally, we are considering implementing ongoing monitoring for company changes, PEPs, and sanctions in the near future.
“While our industry allows us to take deliberate decisions based on in-depth reviews, NorthRow's rapid verification results enable us to maintain flexibility and meet all our business deadlines.”
Testimonial
Maria Zgurieva
Head of Operations
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