Bank statement analysis for financial investigations
Sinabis Tracer reads bank statements in MT940, CAMT and CSV, merges accounts across all spellings and follows payments to the final recipient. It flags suspicious patterns with a score, and the assessment stays with you.
- plus CSV and other common bank spreadsheet formats
- MT940, CAMT
- Pass-through accounts, commissions, structuring and recurring payments
- 4 patterns
- Across several intermediary accounts, with time window and amount tolerance
- Routes
- Money trails as report, graph and table for the file
- PDF, PNG, Excel
Money never takes the direct route.
That is why one account is never enough.In fraud, breach of trust, corruption or money laundering, the evidence sits in bank statements, often from dozens of accounts at several banks. Payments are split up, passed through companies with similar names and brought back together later. In a spreadsheet this is almost impossible to follow.
On top of that, the same recipient has a different name in every statement: sometimes with the legal form, sometimes abbreviated, sometimes with a typo. Without proper merging, a pass-through account stays invisible because its inflows and outflows are spread across seemingly different names.
Tracer solves both. It reads the statements into one collection, merges name variants and searches for routes between accounts. If emails and documents belong to the case as well, they are added through forensic data processing, so payments and communication can be analysed together.
What Tracer finds in the transactions.
Patterns, routes and connections.- 01
Merge accounts
Different spellings of the same account holder are recognised and merged into one account. All variants remain visible.
- 02
Pass-through accounts
The pattern scanner flags accounts that pass on inflows quickly and almost completely. A typical sign of straw men and shell companies.
- 03
Commission patterns
Transfers that keep back a fixed percentage every time show up as a pattern of their own. The retained share is shown right next to it.
- 04
Structuring
Many amounts just below a threshold point to deliberate splitting. Tracer shows these transactions together, with date and counterparty.
- 05
Recurring payments
Regular, similar payments such as rent or consulting fees are recognised as pairs. That separates the everyday from the conspicuous.
- 06
Find routes
You choose a start and a target account, and Tracer searches for possible paths through intermediary accounts. You set the maximum number of hops, the time window and the amount tolerance yourself.
From Sabine Schmidt to Anna Weber.
A money trail across intermediate accounts in Tracer.The question is whether money got from one account to the other even though there is no direct transfer. Tracer finds three possible routes in 70,948 bookings and draws them as a graph between the two accounts.
- 01
Ranked routes
The strongest route runs through four intermediate accounts and spans 467 days.
- 02
Names merged
A. Fischer appears in the statements under three spellings, and Tracer treats them as one account.
- 03
Your judgement
Whether a route is a pattern is for your team to decide. The legend only shows how strong the link is.
From bank statement to money trail.
Four steps in Tracer.- 01
Import statements
Bank statements in MT940, CAMT or CSV are taken into one collection. Collections with hundreds of thousands of transactions can be analysed together this way.
- 02
Clean up accounts
Name variants are merged so that every account appears only once. Only then can money flows be followed properly.
- 03
Patterns and routes
The pattern scanner flags anomalies with a score, and route search connects accounts across intermediate hops. You tag transactions as relevant, suspicious or checked.
- 04
Export the result
Money trails go out as a PDF report, the graph as PNG and the underlying figures as Excel. These go straight into the file, an expert opinion or an audit report.
What goes into the report.
Traceable down to the single transaction.Every statement about a money flow has to trace back to specific transactions. That is why Tracer always exports graphics and figures together.
- Report
- Money trails as PDFWith all accounts, amounts and dates involved.
- Graph
- Account relationships as PNGFor a presentation, a memo or an expert opinion.
- Table
- Transactions as ExcelFor recalculation and further processing.
- Patterns
- Flagged anomaliesPass-through accounts, commissions, structuring, recurring payments.
- Tags
- Relevant, suspicious, checkedThe status of the review is visible at all times.
Why Tracer.
For investigators and auditors.- 01
A score, not a verdict
Tracer flags anomalies with a strength from weak to strong. Whether a pattern is actually suspicious is decided by investigators or auditors.
- 02
Payments and communication
On the review laptop, Tracer and Inspector run side by side. A conspicuous name from the transactions can be looked up in the emails right away.
- 03
Try it first
Tracer runs in the browser. At tracer.sinabis.com you can test it online before a case begins.
Questions about financial investigations.
Formats, patterns, results.Your question is not listed? Write to us.
MT940 and CAMT, the usual formats for electronic bank statements, as well as CSV and other common spreadsheet formats. If statements only exist as PDF or scans, we clarify the processing with you in advance.
By inflows that are passed on quickly and almost completely. In the sample case of the demo, one account forwards 97 percent of its inflows within two days. The pattern scanner flags such accounts with a score.
No. It takes over the mechanical work: importing statements, merging accounts, finding routes, spotting patterns. Whether a money flow is criminal or a breach of duty remains for investigators, auditors and courts to decide.
For financial investigators in the police and public prosecution, for auditors and for compliance teams examining payment flows. It helps wherever many accounts and transactions have to be understood in a short time.
For a case we deliver Tracer together with Inspector and the processed data on a review laptop. The online version at tracer.sinabis.com is suitable for trying it out. The quote depends on data volume and effort.
More for your investigation.
When there is more data than accounts.Got a case on your desk?
Describe data volume, sources and deadline. Within one business day you get an assessment of process and effort.The people behind Explorer, Inspector and Tracer. Your enquiry goes straight to us in Bad Soden am Taunus.
