The Three Emerging Technologies in 2018 to Prevent Financial Crime

The development of digital technology brings both advantages and threats. As more and more businesses become digitally connected, there are increasing reports of cyber security risks worldwide. Financial crime becomes major threat for financial institutions.

Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that cyber-crime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021 from $3 trillion per year in 2015. the costs include data loss, lost money, lost productivity, intellectual property theft, personal data theft and finance, embezzlement, fraud, forensic investigation, data and system restoration and reputation damage.

As security threats rapidly evolve, digital developers, corporations, cyber security solutions providers and technology developers must work faster and more aggressively than ever before to keep up with the ‘game’ of cyber criminals. Safe is not enough, companies should strive to stay one step ahead of the perpetrators.

In 2018 there are some cyber security technologies that have begun to be adopted and awaited its development:

1. AI- based AML

Artificial Intelligence is an indispensable tool in fighting against fraud and money laundering. AI-based AML (Anti-Money Laundering) solutions can automate the search, mapping and linking activities companies and/or individuals who have been flagged for fraudulent activity. The benefits of this solution are perceived by OCBC banks, which have started to adopt AI-AML fintech solution. The process of compiling comprehensive dossiers of suspected parties that previously had taken an hour to complete can nowbe completed in just a single minute.

2. Cognitive trading financial tools

The development of the interconnected global economy brings the industry to a higher level. Legal and contractual practices become more complicated and unpredictable, which increases the risk of fraud and money laundering practices.

The global trade and receivables financing of HSBC (GTRF) team processes over US $ 500 in documentary trade annually and manually review 100 million pages. This manual process increases the risk of human error, compliance violation, and fraud. Together with IBM, HSBC has developed a cognitive solution that can document physical finances into digital formats. This automation process is so effective and efficient that human power can be diverted to focus on cognitive and analytical tasks, such as finding links between documents flagged by inappropriate transactions.

3. Blockchain

Although digital currencies like Bitcoin are still regulatory question mark, the security system that they use – blockchain – is believed to be actively able to assist companies in regulatory compliance of KYC and AML. The transparent, unalterable nature of the distributed ledger of the blockchain is an advantage of this security system. Blockchain enables the reduction of errors by automation, while transaction records by individual clients are stored in a distributed ledger.

Sources:
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3153707/security/top-5-cybersecurity-facts-figures-and-statistics.html

Emerging Technologies That Are Shapping The Anti-financial Crime Market. AML & Financial Crime Asia Summit 2018