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What is a DPO?

What is a DPO? This term is an abbreviation of the word, Data Protection Officer. This person or company carries out tasks, such as data security checks, in a company. This includes compliance with the GDPR.

Public authorities and bodies must have a DPO, Data Protection Officer, who carries out these tasks. This DPO must also advise the data controller of the specific body. It is a legal obligation for these authorities and bodies to have a data protection officer appointed, which may also be the case for several companies.

You can read much more about GDPR,, the Personal Data Act, the Data Protection Act and the difference between them in our articles on this page. Where and for how long can a company keep personal data? Who is covered by the GDPR? These are questions that a DPO, Data Protection Officer can help answer.

A Data Protection Officer will often act as a liaison between the Data Protection Authority and the data controller in the company. In addition, a company's DPO must be independent and external, and must not receive instructions on the selection of tasks.

How does Meo work with data security?

At Meo we can help you with the secure transfer of information to and from customers, as well as a software system that can act as an administration tool for both: verification, checking and monitoring of current and prospective customers, as well as a tailored risk assessment.

This system, Meo Identity, helps you and your DPO to check and manage data correctly, and this system and automation of data management ensures your compliance with GDPR, avoiding penalties, in the form of fines or similar.

We are ISO 27001 certified, as GDPR and AML compliant, which means we are internationally approved and certified in information security and data handling.

Manage your data securely with a DPO, Data Protection Officer

It is essential to work correctly with data, as there may be major penalties for violations of, among others, GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation. With an automated system, not only can you free up resources from semi-manual processes, but you also ensure control and reduce risk.

A Data Protection Officer will, by advising on a company's data security, look into the handling and guide employees to the extent that potential knowledge about data security, GDPR and the exchange of data with customers or clients is lacking.

This advisor may therefore also provide guidance or recommend useful applications or IT systems that may be relevant for maintaining data security.

Let us help make your client management transparent and secure, so that all processes take place under legal conditions.

Here is what you as a company need to know about money laundering

Is your business subject to the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive? Then it’s important to know the fundamentals of money laundering, and why it’s necessary to have local and international anti-money laundering laws and regulations.

In this article you can learn more about money laundering, including:

• What is money laundering?
• How is money laundering committed?
• What does international and european law say about money laundering?
• 4 important terms when it comes to money laundering
• Guide to anti-money laundering checks
• How the Meo platform ensures that your company is 100% AML-compliant at all times.

What is money laundering?

Money laundering is predominantly about making illegal means – black money – legal. That means cloaking the financial gains from criminal activities and using it with legal vendors and in broader society. The origins of the black money can, for example, come from dealing illegal substances or weapons, tax evasion and much more.

White washing

All activities that help criminals obfuscate, conceal, or transform black money into legal tender (which can be documented and used legally) is called white washing or money laundering.

How is money laundering committed?

There are many ways to launder money. Below is an example of how it could transpire:

• A drug dealer has sold illegal substances for 25,000 EUR and now has a lot of black money in his possession.
• The drug dealer finds a used car that’s privately for sale for 75.000 EUR. He offers to buy the car for the full amount – in exchange for paying partially in cash.
• The drug dealer goes to the bank and gets a loan, where he explains he’s buying a car for the price of 50.000 EUR.
• The bank grants the loan and transfers 50.000 EUR directly to the seller, but the drug dealer pays him 25.000 EUR in cash.
• The drug dealer now sells the car to a third-party for 75.000 EUR that is transferred directly to his bank account. He can now document that the money originates from the sale of the car. He pays off his loan to the bank.
• Now the 25.000 EUR have been laundered as they seem to be payment for a simple car sale.
• In principle, money laundering can also be achieved through registered car dealers as a go-between. The drug dealer can have straw men buy and sell cars, boats, art, property, and other physical items to white wash the black money.

What does the law and regulations say about money laundering?

In the EU all financial businesses are subject to and regulated by the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive.

Its full official title is: "Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing" (read it in full here). The directive exists to hinder criminals from being able to earn money from illegal activities which can then be used legally or to finance terrorism.

It’s important to combat money laundering because this type of crime makes it difficult for law enforcement to discover criminal acts. By stopping the laundering of illegal money you simultaneously prevent other forms of financial crime as the perpetrators will have a more difficult time spending or storing their ill-gotten gains. Furthermore, the Anti-Money Laundering Directive also exists to prevent opportunities for financing terror acts and organizations. Most European countries have local laws and regulations based on the EU-directive, which is continuously being formed and developed by the European Parliament. At the present time, the EU has developed six different directives (AML1-6) for the prevention of money laundering.

A number of different business fields and sectors are legally obliged to conduct themselves in accordance with anti-money laundering regulations. Here’s a brief overview:

• Lawyers
• Auditors and external accountants
• Real estate agents
• Landlords
• Financial companies
• Service providers

Read more about the danish Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Hvidvaskloven).

4 important terms when it comes to money laundering

There are quite a few technical, legal and other terms or abbreviations regarding money laundering. The four most important ones to know are:

1. CDD - Customer Due Diligence

Customer Due Diligence (CDD) is a cornerstone of businesses’ anti-money laundering initiatives and procedures. The term covers all actions undertaken by companies to verify the identity of their clients or customers, as well as perform background checks and risk evaluations. Companies and organizations subject to anti-money laundering laws and regulations are required to perform risk assessments, wherein they – on a client-to-client basis – assess the risk of the client being used or using the business for money laundering or the financing of terrorism. Read more about CDD and risk assessment.

2. KYC - Know Your Customer

There are many reasons for why it’s important for businesses to “know their customers.” Among them is – in relation to CDD – evaluating whether or not they are a risk for the business. KYC-screening or verification is a process in which the business identifies or verifies the identity of their customers and clients. In other words, they get to know their customer. This can be achieved by gathering personal information and identification data about the customer or client, which needs to be verified.

3. PEP - Politically Exposed Person

A PEP, or Politically Exposed Person, is a strictly defined category of people, who – on the basis of their political position or power – are considered to be customers that are at greater risk of being subject to money laundering or other criminal activities. The concern is that they - because of their position - can be exposed to blackmail, bribes or otherwise (both willingly and coerced) can be embroiled in money laundering. Read more about PEP and PEP-lists.

4. AML - Anti-Money Laundering

AML is an abbreviation for “anti-money laundering”. The term refers to a broad swath of laws, regulations, directives and procedures that exist to prohibit or stop the laundering of illegal money.

Guide to anti-money laundering checks

Businesses in the affected sectors have to constantly adapt to a plethora of laws, directives and regulations. Most of these require or encourage specific forms of anti-money laundering checks.

With AML 5, which was implemented in January of 2020, a number of changes were introduced, including a transition to a risk-dependent approach to precautionary measures regarding anti-money laundering. The new approach demands more of the businesses’ ability to assess their customers or client relationships.

Roughly speaking, businesses need to assess the risk that they’re being misused for money laundering or the financing of terrorism. One of the central and foundational concepts is the creation of the risk assessments, policies and business procedures, as well as the underlying control and evaluation that ensures that overall compliance.

Read more about the danish Anti-Money Laundering Directive (Hvidvaskloven - Download PDF).

Meo – steer clear of money laundering with our intelligent platform

We hope you now have a more clear understanding of money laundering – and have given you an insight into what your business needs to be aware of to be AML-compliant. Do you have a clear standard for your processes, data handling and the verification of new clients?

If not, Meo can help.

Meo is a Danish company and software platform that helps businesses with their data security, onboarding and overall compliance.

With Meo you can:

• Automatically screen clients via PEP-lists.
• Verify clients’ ID
• Collect data from official sources regarding businesses and individuals

With Meo you don’t need to worry when it comes to anti-money laundering measures.

Its Purpose, Process, and Necessity

Are you questioning: what is a declaration of consent? In this article, we can answer the questions of what it is, how it is filled in and why it may be necessary. This is a written document that is created when having to give consent or permission for a specific action.

More specifically, it is used in the context of travel with children, professional consent in regards to private collaboration, which is both within and outside the legal framework. It can, therefore, also be a written agreement on how an external company manages data security in another company, and so on.

What does such a statement entail?

A declaration of consent is a written agreement that covers a wide range of issues and situations. But generally speaking, there is always one party giving permission to another party to perform a particular action.

Among other things, the consent form involves:

• Identifiable descriptions of all parties
• The time period of the consent
• What is consented to - the object in question
• How the consent itself is to be used
• What a possible cancellation or revocation looks like

Which parties are involved in this document?

When filling in a declaration of consent, there are always several parties present. This involves the "giving" party and the opposite party to whom the consent is given. The descriptions and information in such a statement must be referable, which means that they must be able to identify the parties.

The essence of this whole covenant and permission is that the giving party must give consent voluntarily. This is regardless of the context. There are some points and areas which must also always be complied with and completed.

Understand what is a declaration of consent and what the points are

It can be beneficial to have a declaration of consent template that a company or individual uses in situations where consent is required.

• Descriptions of the parties should include the full names of all parties and contact details provided, together with any social security or company registration numbers.
• The time period must be clearly defined. This gives an indication of when and for how long it may be used.
• What is consented to is the most essential, as it implies the object. It can be the given data used in the collaboration, the certificate used, the person, the company or whatever this may be.
• How the consent and this declaration of consent are to be used is in several places a more optional point. However, if a company wants this point included, the purpose of the act can be described.
• How to withdraw consent may be a beneficial area to cover in the event that parties disagree or rules are broken for the consent form in place.

Reduce risks with digital data management platform

At Meo, we work with data security through a digital platform. Therefore, in addition to being able to introduce you to what is a declaration of consent, we can also assist with digital help to handle everything from verification, monitoring, checking of customers - current as well as new.

We automate time-consuming KYC procedures, creating more time for your work and reducing the possibility of errors.

Understanding Sensitive Personal Information and its Pitfalls

What is sensitive personal information and how do you become aware of pitfalls in this area? When dealing with this type of information and the handling of the same, it is first important to know the difference between general personal data and personal sensitive information.

The former is information that can be traced back to a specific person, which can be any information that can identify him or her in context. This can be anything from a picture, name, address, medical records, social security number, fingerprints, age, education, etc.

In contrast, personal data or information is data that a company, according to data protection law, must be extremely careful about handling. This information includes the following:

• Political beliefs
• Ethnicity and race
• Religious beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Genetic data
• Data of a biometric nature for identification purposes
• Health information
• Sexual orientation or relationship

If you would like further information and clarification, you can read more about this on Datatilsynet.dk. Here you can also find information on legislation and paragraphs related to the subject.

Get help for correct handling from Meo

At Meo, we help with efficient handling of sensitive personal information. Our primary task is to ensure that your company and associated customers can exchange and work with sensitive personal information confidential and legal.

We help ensure control over this information and store it in a protected and central location so that there is full control over its handling. We can help with risk assessments, ongoing monitoring, follow-ups, reports and much more.

Meo is a Danish company operating in RegTech and including customer data management using an identity platform and software - Meo, which is our software system.

You are always welcome to contact us regarding questions on what is personal data or our platform and services in relation to compliance and KYC processes. We are available to have a no-obligation chat about how you can streamline processes and thus free up time and resources in your daily KYC work.

What is compliance - Get answers and take a non-binding check up

Let us help you understand "what is compliance" and why regular compliance check ups are important. We conduct non-binding surveys and check ups of your KYC processes, where we provide an overview of the efforts and procedures you can optimise and how.

At Meo, we treat your data and responses confidentially and securely, in order for you to receive a compliance check up with peace of mind. But allow us to introduce Meo and our identity, as well as put you in the picture of what compliance is.

What is meant by a compliance check up?

When talking about a compliance check up, we mean an examination of whether rules, legislation and guidelines are being adhered to in the respective processes. This applies to processes in connection to customers as well as internally.

In the same process, the term KYC compliance is used. KYC is primarily an abbreviation of Know Your Customer, and this term, therefore, covers knowing your customers legislation and guidelines and what you need to be aware of. The term is used in financial contexts.

These concepts and efforts have been created to safeguard customers against corruption, money laundering, fraud and other types of financial abuses.

The purpose of conducting these check ups, and gaining knowledge on what constitutes compliance, is to avoid pitfalls that can, in the worst case, lead to sanctions if you violate laws, guidelines or other regulations.

Who is Meo?

We are a RegTech company located in Denmark, working on platforms for the benefit of secure customer data handling.

At Meo, we offer complete solutions through software to automate customer verification, checks, monitoring as well as risk assessments and onboarding flows allowing you to save resources.

We help save you time on cumbersome processes that are essential to avoid breaches of legislation, regulations or guidelines. By automating or streamlining processes and gaining a deep understanding of "what is compliance", we can ensure that everyday life is easier and more manageable for both you and your clients.

So spend time wisely on other processes and streamline your efforts while ensuring your data exchange is secure and confidential.

“Meo integrated perfectly with our existing systems”

KommuneKredit’s goal is to offer leasing and loans to Danish municipalities, regions and joint municipal companies. Previously, only the leasing part required identification from the owners, but it has also become a requirement for the loans. Therefore, KommuneKredit had to find a system to handle the safe-keeping of personal information.

“It is a significant task to store and manage personal data in the correct manner. Our goal was to outsource the safe-keeping of data because we believe in “best-of-breed”, meaning that we all do what we are best at. Therefore, we have not for one second considered developing a solution on our own”, says Christian Jeppesen, customer director and AML manager, who was responsible for finding the best, suitable platform for KommuneKredit.

When you deal with companies, it is simple to identify who the CEO is and who owns the company. But it is different in a municipality - because who is the ultimate beneficial owner, whose identity needs to be verified?

Today, the definition states that the mayor and the municipality director must be considered the municipality’s ultimate beneficial owners. Therefore KommuneKredit keeps the sensitive data of all Danish mayors and municipality directors under lock and key on the Newbanking Identity platform. Only a few designated employees of KommuneKredit have access to this information.

Difficult to develop on our own

“If we had to develop a platform, we would need a lot of governance to determine who should gain access and under which conditions. Aside from the fact that the actual development of the platform would be very complex, it would also involve far too much administrative work with too many unknown factors”, says Christian Jeppesen and continues:

“Today, everything is automated in Meo, where we carry out spot checks on all identity documentation in the system. The platform is easy to work with, and every time we are in dialogue with the Meo founders, they have proved to have an extensive knowledge regarding KYC and GDPR procedures, which gives us a high sense of security.”

Integration with our customer management system

For KommuneKredit, however, a few other factors came into play in choosing a platform to manage their KYC and GDPR compliance. They needed to integrate the KYC system directly with their current customer management system. By integrating Meo with KommuneKredit’s customer management system, it becomes easy for the employees to email their customers, for example, when they must update their identification documents.

Moreover, KommuneKredit was facing a replacement of their current CSR system with a new one, and thus, it was essential to find an easy integrative platform.

“The entire process of implementing Meo in the daily routines has been very agile, and Meo has been very responsive to help to integrate with our customer management system. They are super skilled at integrating the platform with the other systems we use, which is pivotal. The platform works impeccably and has high operational stability. By all means, we have acquired a great solution that meets the full range of our needs”, says Christian Jeppesen.

Too long, too personal

According to recent research, 68% of consumers abandoned an application for a financial service in 2021. A 3% rise since 2020 and a huge missed business opportunity. Not surprisingly, the two key reasons were the longer-than-expected application process and the amount of personal information requested.

Bad UX in onboarding is still a major pain

While a bit of friction is necessary in industries providing services where consumers have personal finances or delicate information at stake, too much friction is detrimental to successful onboarding.‍

Meo partners with e-Boks

Our new partnership with e-Boks results in a more safe and seamless user experience than ever seen before within KYC.

A solution that meets companies’ growing need for access to data, now requested through the most trusted digital postbox, allowing the customers to share data through a platform that they are familiar with and comfortable using.

Frontrunners in the KYC space are dedicating resources to improve onboarding flows and make them more similar to UX leaders like Apple, Amazon etc., while adding just the right amount of friction to induce trust.

Increased scepticism towards data requests

Consumers can be fickle. While increased public attention to GDPR has raised consumers expectations towards regulatory compliance, they still want to share as little personal information as possible.

Research shows that consumers have become increasingly sceptical due to fear of data breaches. Thus, to cater to the digitally enlightened consumer, factors such as data privacy, data transparency and data control are powerful generators of trust in a company or brand.

Where to begin?

As indicated by the data above, speed, UX, data volume and trust are major arenas for battle when it comes to improving onboarding and winning customers. While regulation may prohibit you from reducing the amount of personal information you request, there is a lot to be done in how and where you ask for information. Tuning in on those factors can potentially be a game changer to ensure your customers complete onboarding.

To mend the trust gap and make onboarding and KYC simpler for consumers, we are partnering with e-Boks, the most trusted digital postbox in Denmark. Our customers can now deliver data requests to a provider that consumers know, use and trust with their data already. With conversion rates up to 98% on data requests in e-Boks, completing onboarding feels both more familiar and more safe.

Compliant management of clients’ personal data has a high significance

DANDERS & MORE was the first Danish law firm to implement the Meo platform. Like many other companies, new legislation regarding the processing of personal data and anti-money laundering was the triggering factor. Since then, DANDERS & MORE has found the platform to be useful beyond their initial need.

“It is of utmost importance to us that we at all times are ready to undergo an audit without any remarks. Therefore, our primary motivation in searching for a platform has been to ensure compliance with personal data and money laundering legislation, which are continuously developing and becoming increasingly strict. Meo was the obvious choice for us as the only suitable platform to meet our different needs,” says Majken Korsgaars, lawyer, partner and co-owner of Danders & More.

Today, many companies receive emails with unsolicited applications containing sensitive personal data. In some cases, applicants even attach a copy of their passport or driver‘s license, unaware that the companies are at risk of breaking the law if they do not delete these emails. It is one of the issues with receiving emails containing sensitive or confidential personal information. Another issue is that the company can not ensure that the applicants and clients send sensitive information via a secure and encrypted email connection.

Uncovering the chain of ownership

All this was - and still is - of immense significance to DANDERS & MORE. For this reason, the choice of Meo’s platform helps the partners to sleep peacefully at night. With the implementation of Meo’s platform, DANDERS & MORE now has a straightforward KYC procedure. If a client should send sensitive or confidential information by email, it will be erased immediately. Instead, the Compliance Officer will send the client a link to the system, which will guide the new user to upload ID and other relevant documentation - all of this without involvement from the law firm. But once the client has completed uploading documents to Meo’s secure platform, the designated persons at DANDERS & MORE will receive a notification.

“The platform is also helpful to obtain and categorise all necessary documentation to uncover the ownership and control structure (chain of ownership) of corporate clients, which gives us the certainty that we are not inadvertently violating the AML and GDPR legislation. This certainty is crucial in our industry. We cannot underestimate the significance of sending a message to the customers that we are vigilantly guarding their sensitive personal data, and we are doing so with reliable procedures”, says Majken Korsgaard.

A better relationship with the clients

In DANDERS & MORE, the partners have appointed a compliance officer responsible for the customer contact when KYC documentation is to be collected. Albeit it is not necessary because the platform is simple to navigate, it has its advantages.

“The advantage of having a Compliance Officer and a system like Meo is that my colleagues and I can focus on counselling our clients. We do not have to spend time pushing and reminding clients to upload any missing documentation. Now that the Meo platform and my compliance colleague take care of this, I can build a good client relationship without interruptions due to KYC procedures”, says Majken Korsgaard.

Responsive to amendments

At the beginning of the partnership with Meo, DANDERS & MORE had a couple of wishes for the platform’s development to ease the lawyers’ daily operation.

“We have had the opportunity to leave our mark on the platform, and Meo has always been very accommodating to our wishes. They are easy to work with, and they have proved highly skilled and tech-savvy when solving all our issues to meet our needs”, says Majken Korsgaard.

Some companies might question whether they want to collaborate with a new company in such an important area, but Majken Korsgaard was quickly convinced.

Deep insight at Meo

“I had a long meeting with Christian Visti Larsen, who explained about his background. It is compelling to work with people who are as knowledgeable about the GDPR framework as he is. He has been working with it for years, which convinced the partners and me about the platform. In Meo, we deal with very skilled people who know the demands for a platform and recognise the challenges it poses. They are 100% knowledgeable about all relevant issues, which make an excellent collaboration”, says Majken Korsgaard.

Since DANDERS & MORE has started using the platform, it has become a focal point for working with clients. As a result, the law firm has expanded its use to manage funding applications and to receive job applications.

“We were the first law firm to start using the platform, and we have not regretted it for a second”, says Majken Korsgaard.

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