Sun, Mar 22, 2015

Databricks -- the company founded by the creators of the popular open-source big data processing engine Apache Spark with its flagship product, Databricks Cloud -- and Tresata Inc., a provider of Hadoop-powered predictive analytics software, today announced a joint solution that combines Databricks Cloud with Tresata TEAK, a predictive, real-time Anti Money Laundering (AML) solution. This product is the first solution to be engineered for both Spark and Databricks Cloud.

Like all sophisticated criminal networks, money laundering is designed to mimic typical banking behaviors and is therefore difficult to detect. Current AML solutions require significant manual investigation due to high false positives and inability to look at all the data. The United States alone spends 7 billion dollars a year to handle this problem, the total size of which is estimated at 2.5 percent of Global GDP (or 1.5 trillion dollars). Yet, money seized in AML convictions accounts for less than 0.2 percent of all laundered transactions in the U.S.

"Money laundering is a trillion dollar problem, and the fatal flaw in current AML initiatives is taking an entity-level look at what is a massive network problem driven by complex relationships between people, places and their inherent but otherwise unseen interconnections," said Ion Stoica, CEO of Databricks. "The short answer is a lack of technological prowess that unites all dimensions of predicting AML. Databricks and Tresata have worked together to offer a powerful, predictive solution that unravels this complex web of data and delivers instant results."

Unavailable in current AML solutions, Tresata TEAK adds a new 'relationship' dimension that helps investigators discover in real-time the existing and emergent network patterns that signal fraudulent behavior. Leveraging the power of Spark, Tresata TEAK adds a new weapon to the AML arsenal -- "network scores" -- that can process all relevant data to block potential money laundering supply chains.

By architecting it to run on Databricks Cloud, Tresata's TEAK provides potential customers an option for rapid start up and massive scalability. In testing, Tresata TEAK also significantly reduced the instance of false positives and minimized costly manual investigations, which are necessary in traditional AML solutions.

"Combining the processing power and elasticity of Databricks Cloud with the predictive prowess of Tresata TEAK results in a solution that is so adept at identifying and investigating potential fraud networks, that typical clients should be able to cut their investigation time and effort in half," said Abhishek Mehta, CEO of Tresata. "By deploying Tresata TEAK in the Databricks Cloud, banks, retailers or telecoms have a secure, scalable, and efficient option for testing and deploying this solution rapidly."