14 November  2024—Castellum.AI, an industry leader in sanctions, PEPs, adverse media, sanctioned beneficial ownership, and supply chain compliance, is pleased to announce our strategic partnership with Yanez Compliance, a trusted authority in testing, tuning, and model validation for sanctions screening services. 

Through this partnership, Yanez Compliance has integrated Castellum.AI’s compliance screening API to benchmark model validations and screening systems for its banking and fintech clients. Yanez Compliance will further validate Castellum.AI’s sanctions screening technology, ensuring it meets the highest standards in accuracy, robustness, and regulatory compliance for its clients.

“Our partnership with Yanez Compliance reinforces our commitment to delivering screening technology that not only performs at a high level but also meets rigorous validation standards, through an independent 3rd party,” said Jared Ezzell, Head of Partnerships at Castellum.AI. “Yanez’s innovation in model validation will play a pivotal role in helping us ensure that our clients can confidently rely on our technology.”

This collaboration brings together Castellum.AI’s advanced screening solutions, designed for real-time detection of financial crime risk for KYC/KYB onboarding, transaction screening, and real-time monitoring, with Yanez Compliance’s deep expertise in validating and auditing screening systems. By working together, the two companies aim to set new industry standards for accuracy and effectiveness, helping organizations worldwide better manage risk and meet stringent regulatory requirements, at a fraction of the cost and manual efforts currently required.

“Model validation is critical for ensuring that compliance solutions are effective and aligned with regulatory expectations,” said Jose Caldera, founder and CEO of Yanez Compliance. “By partnering with Castellum.AI, we’re excited to bring to their clients an off-the-shelf solution, without the need for IT resources, to reduce by at least 10X the time and effort required to achieve model validation.”

Financial institutions regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) or operating in New York must perform model validation of their sanctions screening functions. The OCC has issued specific guidance on properly conducting model validation. Still, the process can be complex and resource-intensive, typically requiring around 1,000 hours across multiple team members with diverse skill sets. Yanez Model Validation provides an off-the-shelf software solution that executes and documents all requirements needed for OCC-compliant model validation, satisfying both OCC and New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) compliance requirements.