Security & Compliance

Compliance by Design.
Not by Afterthought.

Every layer of the Atlas platform — from database interceptors to background surveillance workers — is built with regulatory requirements in mind. Audit trails that can't be modified. Surveillance rules that never sleep. Financial records that balance to the penny.

Immutability

Audit Trails That
Cannot Be Altered.

The Atlas audit system does not rely on developer discipline or access controls to protect the integrity of audit data. Instead, EF Core SaveChanges interceptors physically block any attempt to UPDATE or DELETE audit log or ledger entry records at the ORM level — before SQL is even generated.

Every entity change — create, update, delete — is automatically captured with the acting user ID, timestamp, IP address, old values, and new values stored as structured JSON. This audit data is immutable and retained indefinitely.

57
Entities Audited
100%
Coverage
0
Deletable Records
Retention Period
Audit Log Entry Structure
EntityName "Order"
EntityId "a7f3e..."
Action "Update"
UserId "b2c4d..."
IpAddress "102.89.23.45"
Timestamp "2025-01-15T09:32:17Z"
OldValues {"Status":"Pending"}
NewValues {"Status":"Filled"}
UPDATE / DELETE operations blocked by interceptor
AuditLogImmutabilityInterceptor throws InvalidOperationException on modification attempts
Surveillance

7 Automated Surveillance Rules.
Running Continuously.

The Atlas surveillance engine monitors every trade, order, and transaction for suspicious patterns. Alerts are generated automatically, scored by severity, and routed to compliance officers for review. False positives can be dismissed with documented rationale.

1

Wash Trading Detection

Detects buy/sell sequences in the same security within configurable time windows that may indicate wash trading activity.

2

Unusual Volume

Flags orders or trade volumes that significantly exceed an account's historical average. Configurable multiplier thresholds.

3

Front Running

Identifies patterns where large orders are preceded by related trades from connected accounts, suggesting information misuse.

4

Layering & Spoofing

Monitors for order-and-cancel patterns that may indicate layering — placing and cancelling orders to manipulate the order book.

5

Large Transaction Monitoring

Flags deposits, withdrawals, and trades that exceed configurable monetary thresholds for enhanced review.

6

Rapid Price Movement

Detects trades correlated with rapid price swings. Helps identify potential market manipulation or insider activity.

7

Concentration Risk

Monitors portfolio concentration levels that may indicate excessive risk or coordinated accumulation of a single security.

Alert Management
Each alert links to the triggering order/transaction. Compliance officers can investigate, escalate, or dismiss with documented rationale.
Configurable Thresholds
Every rule's sensitivity — volume multipliers, time windows, monetary thresholds — is configurable per brokerage via the admin portal.
Suspicious Indicators
Alerts store structured JSON data listing the specific suspicious indicators detected, enabling detailed forensic analysis.
KYC / AML

5-Step KYC Verification.
Digital-First.

The Atlas KYC workflow guides clients through a structured, mobile-first onboarding process. Each step is independently tracked. Documents are stored securely in S3 with pre-signed URLs. Admin review happens in the backoffice portal with approve/reject/request-more-info workflows.

1
Personal Information
Full name, date of birth, nationality, phone number, BVN.
2
Address Verification
Street address, city, state, LGA. Utility bill or bank statement upload.
3
Identity Document
NIN, passport, voter's card, or driver's license. Document upload with type selection.
4
Employment & Income
Employment status, occupation, employer, annual income range, source of funds.
5
Selfie & Bank Verification
Selfie photo capture for identity cross-check. Bank account details for fund settlement.

Admin KYC Review

  • Queue-based review with filtering by status, date, name
  • Document viewing with zoom, secure S3 pre-signed URLs
  • Approve / Reject / Request More Info with notes
  • Rejection reasons categorized and tracked
  • Full KYC status timeline with action history

Account Controls

  • Freeze / Unfreeze accounts with reason documentation
  • Place / Remove regulatory holds
  • Restrict trading without freezing entire account
  • Force password reset on compromised accounts

SAR Filing

  • Suspicious Activity Report creation from surveillance alerts
  • Draft → Submitted → Under Review → Closed workflow
  • Linked to triggering account, linked transactions, and supporting evidence
Financial Controls

SEC-Grade Financial Safeguards.

Customer Reserve Formula

Automated customer reserve calculation per SEC Rule 15c3-3 requirements. Credits (client cash, payables) vs debits (margin, receivables). Minimum reserve computed and tracked daily with full audit history.

Segregated Client Funds

The platform enforces logical separation of client funds from brokerage operating accounts through the ledger. Client cash, client equity, and reserved funds are tracked in dedicated ledger accounts per client.

Idempotent Financial Operations

Every financial transaction — deposit, withdrawal, order placement, fee charge — requires an idempotency key. Duplicate requests are rejected, preventing double-charges and double-credits.

Pre-Trade Risk Checks

Before any order is accepted: buying power validation, account freeze check, KYC status verification, regulatory hold check, position limits, and configurable order size limits. All enforced server-side.

Payment Reconciliation

Automated reconciliation between payment gateway transactions, internal ledger entries, and bank settlements. Discrepancies are flagged for manual review. Full reconciliation reports by date range.

Settlement Processing

Background worker processes T+3 settlement. Mature trades are settled automatically. Settlement reports track pending, in-progress, settled, and failed settlements by date and security.

Security Architecture

Defense in Depth.

Authentication & Authorization

  • • JWT authentication with BCrypt password hashing
  • • Refresh token rotation with family detection
  • • Biometric authentication support (mobile)
  • • PIN-based quick login for returning users
  • • 90+ RBAC permissions across 8 modules (admin)
  • • Admin login history tracking (IP, device, time)

Data Isolation

  • • Row-level tenant isolation via EF Core query filters
  • • No shared data between brokerage tenants
  • • Tenant resolved from HTTP host before auth runs
  • • Cross-tenant access physically impossible via ORM filters
  • • Separate branding, config, and settings per tenant
  • • Admin roles scoped to individual brokerage

Operational Safeguards

  • • Kill switch: immediately halt all trading activity
  • • Maintenance mode: block client operations with notice
  • • Account freeze / unfreeze with reason logging
  • • Regulatory hold: block withdrawals pending investigation
  • • Trading restriction without full account freeze
  • • Force password reset on compromised accounts

Infrastructure Security

  • • AWS Parameter Store for secrets management
  • • Docker containerization with minimal attack surface
  • • HTTPS/TLS everywhere
  • • Pre-signed S3 URLs for document access (time-limited)
  • • Health endpoints for monitoring and alerting
  • • Rate limiting and request validation on all endpoints
Access Control

90+ Permissions.
8 Default Roles. Fully Customizable.

The Atlas RBAC system gives brokerage administrators granular control over who can see and do what across the entire backoffice. Every action — viewing a report, approving a KYC, cancelling an order — is gated by a specific permission. Roles are fully customizable per brokerage.

Super Admin All permissions
Compliance Officer KYC, Surveillance, SAR, Audit
Trading Desk Orders, Routing, Executions
Finance Manager Ledger, Payments, Reports
Client Support Client view, Chat, Notes
+ 3 More Defaults Operations, Viewer, Auditor
Permission Modules
Clients Module
clients.view clients.manage clients.kyc.review clients.accounts.freeze
Trading Module
trading.orders.view trading.orders.manage trading.orders.cancel trading.routing.manage
Compliance Module
compliance.alerts.view compliance.alerts.manage compliance.sar.file compliance.audit.view
Finance Module
finance.ledger.view finance.payments.manage finance.reserve.manage finance.reports.view
Settings Module
settings.killswitch settings.maintenance settings.branding settings.fees
Reporting

30+ Reports. Exportable. Schedulable.

Every report can be filtered by date range, exported to CSV, and scheduled for automatic delivery via email. Reports cover financial, regulatory, trading, and operational domains.

Financial

  • • Revenue Report
  • • Commission Summary
  • • Fee Breakdown
  • • Client Balance Report
  • • Ledger Trial Balance
  • • Journal Entry Report
  • • Customer Reserve
  • • P/L by Client

Regulatory

  • • KYC Status Report
  • • Compliance Alerts
  • • SAR Activity Report
  • • Surveillance Summary
  • • Account Freeze Log
  • • Regulatory Hold Report
  • • Audit Trail Export

Trading

  • • Order Flow Analytics
  • • Execution Quality
  • • Fill Rate Report
  • • Routing Performance
  • • Settlement Status
  • • Position Summary
  • • Trade Confirmation

Operations

  • • Client Growth Report
  • • Deposit/Withdrawal Vol.
  • • Payment Reconciliation
  • • Login Activity
  • • Support Ticket Summary
  • • System Health
  • • Scheduled Report Logs

Compliance Shouldn't
Keep You Up at Night.

Atlas handles surveillance, audit trails, KYC workflows, and financial controls so your compliance team can focus on strategy — not spreadsheets.

Talk to Our Compliance Team