Harrison joins from Dow Jones where he was general manager of Dow Jones Risk & Compliance. Prior to that he was managing director for risk, regulatory and compliance solutions at IHS Markit.
Before joining IHS Markit, he spent eight years at Goldman Sachs and started his career as a management consultant with Deloitte.
He takes over with immediate effect from SmartSearch’s chief executive and founder John Dobson, who launched the business in 2011. Dobson will remain an active part of the company as a non-executive director.
Harrison said: “SmartSearch has already delivered impressive growth, and I’m very much looking forward to working with the team to lead the business towards even greater success.
“Fraud and money laundering attempts have risen considerably since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic increasing the need for regulated businesses to have effective AML technology.
“SmartSearch’s state-of-the-art technology is perfectly positioned to meet this need by accurately identifying and verifying customers in just two seconds.”
“I feel a lot of pride in having led a worthy and successful business which will continue to grow and prosper with a very competent, energetic and innovative team remaining.
“I felt the time had come for my second retirement and I am very happy to handover the leadership to Guy, who I know has the experience and strategic vision to steer the business through the next expansion phase as it continues to become recognized as the default solution for AML verification, both in the UK and globally.”
