Imperial Tobacco Deploys Datanomic for Sanctions & PEP Screening

Cambridge, UK – 16 November 2010 - Risk & compliance screening and enterprise data management specialist, Datanomic, today announced that Imperial Tobacco Group plc is now screening thousands of customers across 160 countries every 24 hours using the dn:Director Sanctions & PEP (Politically Exposed Persons) Screening solution. The screening is part of the company’s ongoing Know Your Customer initiative to protect against illicit trade activities and comply with a raft of industry legislation.

Imperial Tobacco is a leading international tobacco company which manufactures, markets, distributes and sells a comprehensive range of cigarettes, tobaccos, cigars, rolling papers and tubes in over 160 countries worldwide. The Group operates 51 manufacturing sites worldwide and has approximately 38,000 employees. Since 1997, the company has spent around £17 billion on acquisitions and is one of the largest distributors of tobacco and other products in Europe. Imperial Tobacco is a FTSE 100 Company listed on the London Stock Exchange (IMT.L).

“Tobacco is a very high value product,” said David Blunt, Market Risk Manager, Group Product Supply Compliance, Imperial Tobacco Ltd. “There is an industry-wide problem facing all tobacco manufacturers with regards to tackling smuggling and black market trading. As a company, we take our compliance responsibilities extremely seriously and work closely with law enforcement agencies worldwide to counter such activities. We selected Datanomic to ensure we comply with UK and international legislation worldwide. We have a small internal compliance team so the accuracy, automation and reduction of false positives that dn:Director provides is extremely valuable to us. We have been audited by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs who are also happy with the control measures we have in place as a result of the Datanomic solution.”

Like all tobacco companies, Imperial Tobacco Group is subject to the Tobacco Products Directive, the Customs Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act, and the Bribery and Corruption Act to name but a few. Under the Tobacco Products Directive, a tobacco manufacturer could be subject to up to £5 million in fines if it fails to control its customer screening. In addition to mandatory legislation, the leading tobacco companies also have a number of voluntary industry initiatives to combat illegal activities. Earlier this year, Imperial Tobacco announced that it is working the European Commission to jointly combat illicit trade in tobacco. Under the agreement Imperial Tobacco is working together with the European Commission and the law enforcement authorities of the Member States to tackle the smuggling and counterfeiting of tobacco products. The agreement strengthens cooperation in a number of areas and includes payments by Imperial Tobacco of US $300 million (EUR 207 million) over 20 years to fund anti-illicit trade initiatives.

“We use dn:Director to screen against HMRC lists, private Watch Lists, as well as our own list of historic customers we have red carded over the years. Our customer services and compliance teams are based in Nottingham and Hamburg and are now screening thousands of customers every twenty four hours across 160 countries using the dn:Director solution. We’re extremely pleased with the ease of use, extra insight into our customer base, and peace of mind with compliance and legislation that Datanomic provides.”

As the UK’s de-facto Risk & Compliance screening solution, dn:Director for Sanctions & PEP screening is now systematically checking more than five billion client records every month.
In addition to the tobacco industry, Datanomic’s risk and compliance screening software is being adopted in other non-financial services industries that require stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance requirements, such as the diamond, logistics and third party supply chain industries.

About Datanomic

Datanomic’s flagship enterprise Data Management and Compliance Screening software, dn:Director, helps organizations save money, remain compliant with legislation, streamline business processes, reduce waste and seize more opportunities. dn:Director’s broad capabilities enable organizations to identify and eradicate problems in customer, financial and product data, improve compliance performance, and better manage business risk. Based in Cambridge, UK, with offices in New York and Singapore, Datanomic was founded in 2001 and is backed by DN Capital.