The anti-money laundering solution provider said it recruited the equivalent of one new colleague every other day, across a range of different roles and divisions, during the first quarter of the year.

Its managing director Martin Cheek said increased threat of money laundering and financial crime that has arisen since the start of the global pandemic was responsible for the rise in demand for its products and services.

Cheek, who is one of the founders of the business, said: “What we’ve seen since the outbreak of coronavirus over a year ago, is a huge increase in the level of financial crime such as money laundering, based on the use of more sophisticated false IDs and documents.

“This has made businesses in regulated sectors realise that traditional methods of ID verification when taking on new customers, such as manually going through passports and driving licences, are no longer fit for purpose.

“At the same time, the Financial Conduct Authority has been clear not only in its message that non-compliance with due diligence will be punished, but also that electronic verification is more accurate and efficient.

“This has driven a surge in demand for SmartSearch’s digital solution which is able to verify an individual’s identity within two seconds, running a full ID check across multiple global databases, including sanctions and PEP lists.

“As a result, we have been on a significant recruitment drive for the team at our Ilkley headquarters where we have bolstered our sales team and our customer services team, which is at the heart of our business.

“It’s been a surge in growth for SmartSearch and we have a brilliant team here, to manage that, as more and more businesses realise the importance of switching to electronic verification to stay one step ahead of the money launderers and organised financial crime gangs.”