HSBC to use robots to fight financial crimes

HSBC is bringing in robots to help it spot money laundering, fraud and terrorist funding. A Financial Times report says it is the latest bank to harness artificial intelligence to tackle financial crime more quickly and cheaply than with armies of compliance staff. Europe’s biggest bank is planning to integrate the AI software of Quantexa, a UK-based start-up, to screen the vast amounts of data it holds on customers and their transactions against publicly available data, in the search for suspicious activity. Stung by multibillion-dollar fines in the past decade for failing to stop illegal finance flowing through their accounts, many large banks are partnering with AI specialists as part of efforts to clean up their act, according to the report. It says using AI to sift through vast amounts of data also offers the opportunity to save money – banks spend £5bn a year on combating financial crime in the UK alone, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. Regulators are monitoring banks’ use of AI to spot financial crime, according to the report which states other banks – among them Royal Bank of Scotland, Danske Bank and OCBC – have also partnered with technology providers to combat financial crime.

Full Financial Times report