Combating financial crime risks with machine learning

The global banking industry faces heightened risks due to the evolving financial crime compliance mandates to clamp down on money laundering and sanctioned entities and maintain CDD/EDD. Among all, money laundering appears the most pernicious, with more illicit transactions evading anti-money laundering (AML) systems yearly. In tandem, screening sanctioned entities, SDNs, blocked persons, etc., is now a perennial need of financial institutions. Industry estimates place the laundered money to the tune of 2.7% of the annual global GDP, a whopping US$ 1.6 trillion loss. With an estimated 24,000 sanctions worldwide in 2022, inadequate watchlist screening and KYC (EDD/CDD) pose prodigious risks.