Foreword
This whitepaper, co-developed by Deloitte and United Overseas Bank (“UOB”), examines how technological disruptions have transformed financial crime compliance.
It sets out the paramount need for the banking industry to enhance their compliance capabilities against the changing landscape of delivery of services and consumer behaviour. The financial services sector has to tackle the compliance conundrum – manage profitability while keeping compliance top of mind. Increased competition from new entrants has also dialled up the need for financial institutions to accelerate innovation with new products and services.
Picture of things to come
"This whitepaper paints a picture of what is to come, and Singapore, on its Smart Nation journey, will benefit from industry collaboration and co-creation that can bring broader confidence when navigating the future."
Cheng Pui Yuen, CEO, Deloitte Singapore
A continuous journey
In the previous whitepaper (Volume 1) entitled “The case for artificial intelligence in combating money laundering and terrorist financing”, Deloitte and UOB started a journey to examine and share collective perspectives on the use of innovation to make financial crime compliance more effective. The use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), Machine Learning (“ML”) and Robotics Process Automation (“RPA”) was analysed, taking reference from UOB’s collaboration with a Regulatory Technology (RegTech) solutions provider to develop a proof-of-concept (POC) for its Anti-Money Laundering systems and test it in a sandbox environment within the Bank.
The pilot was a success. It resulted in greater accuracy in identifying suspicious accounts and transactions. The solution’s ability to reduce false positive alerts enabled UOB compliance officers to streamline their investigations of suspicious cases and use the time saved on higher-value work.
One year on, this second volume examines the continued journey of UOB to shift the dial in financial crime compliance. UOB is using next-generation technologies in the area of financial crime compliance to develop innovative solutions that meet business and regulatory needs. We will delve into the Bank’s strategy in ensuring financial crime compliance in this paper.
Ensuring a strong compliance culture
“In an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, banks must continue to ensure a strong compliance culture to safeguard customers' interest and to maintain the trust that stakeholders place in us. This whitepaper reflects our learnings and experiences as we developed a compliance strategy that taps new technologies to enhance our risk management practices and to defend against financial crimes today and in the future.”
Victor Ngo, Head of Group Compliance, UOB
