Artificial intelligence, data and the new age of business insights

Vatsa Narasimha, CEO, ComplyAdvantage

It has never been a more exciting – or demanding – time to work in the banking and payments industry. New technologies have revolutionised our interactions with banks, retailers and each other.

But financial institutions aren’t the only ones taking advantage of new technologies – criminals, terrorists, sanctions evaders and other bad actors are too.

In tandem with these new threats, compliance and other executives charged with managing risk are facing a deeply turbulent geopolitical landscape, from Ukraine to the Middle East. Since 2022, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and the Financial Conduct Authority have worked in tandem to intensify their focus on this important issue while, simultaneously, governments around the world have implemented a record number of regulatory changes resulting in countries, businesses and individuals once considered safe to do business with becoming sanctioned overnight.

Put simply, it has become more important than ever for institutions to verify that the people or organisations they choose to do business with are legitimate and that the transactions they facilitate are legal.

Information is knowledge, insights are power

Financial institutions today have access to vast quantities of data on their customers through transaction activities. However, that data provides only a limited understanding of the risk a customer may present.

With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), we have entered a new era; an age of analytics that moves businesses beyond accumulating simple information to implementing actionable insights. This is possible through bringing together disparate data sources to provide a three-dimensional view of an entity. For example, by integrating publicly available information from newspapers with proprietary transactional data, a bank could understand who its customers are affiliated with and, ultimately, whether they increase the bank’s risk exposure. 

Don’t forget the human touch

Even with an unlimited budget, no team could hope to address large quantities of disparate data in real-time. Even the largest team of trained professionals would be bogged down in laborious processes rather than applying their expertise to the biggest threats to their organisations.

So, technology and automation must be integrated with a strong team of talented individuals to provide a risk management solution. However, many financial institutions are grappling with legacy systems that are difficult to configure in line with their risk-based approach and cannot keep up with rapidly emerging risks. In this scenario, talent investment is often used to compensate for ineffective, underpowered solutions. But even companies with advanced artificial intelligence-based technology that can handle volume and complexity need constant training – the human touch – to provide context and ensure accuracy.

That’s why the most successful organisations harness the potential of their technology and their talent together.

Pattern detection is the future of financial crime

At ComplyAdvantage we believe that more data provides more noise but not necessarily more intelligence – particularly if it is unreliable or outdated. For example, system-wide updates should quickly reflect changes to key sanctions lists. When crises occur, institutions must know they’re screening against accurate, recent information.

Most importantly, businesses need insight. They need help seeing and understanding patterns. Actionable insights provide more than information – they provide the context and intelligence that help analysts make the best decisions.

ComplyAdvantage uses technology, data and expertise to help more than 1,000 businesses around the world uncover salient data that provides a clearer view of the individual, then builds on that to establish relationships between that individual and other entities.

Our proprietary risk database compiles information from more than 30,000 news and data sources and is constantly updated with new information about high-risk individuals, entities, and activities. Up-to-the-minute data, combined with our AI-based technology, provides a 360-degree view that is critical to how we help our customers fight financial crime. Our automated financial crime risk detection solutions analyse more data than even the best team of human analysts, improving a team’s ability to prioritise and address threats quickly and efficiently. This intelligence gives our customers the confidence to make well-informed decisions.

We provide the actionable insights that businesses need in a transparent and auditable way. This is why some of the biggest names in banking, payments, insurance and investments ask us to help them manage their risk exposure.

Manage risk with data, AI-based tech and actionable insights by ComplyAdvantage.