UOB has pioneered an artificial intelligence (AI) anti-money laundering technology, making it Singapore’s first bank to apply AI concurrently to two anti-money laundering (AML) risk dimensions – transaction monitoring and name screening.
UOB’s new AI anti-money laundering solution helps the Bank cut through large volumes of transactions to pinpoint suspicious activities. The AI solution sieves through an average of more than 5,700 transaction alerts each month to flag cases that are more likely to be suspicious with an overall true positive prediction rate of 96 per cent.
Once the AI solution flags suspicious activity, the Bank’s compliance officers step in to conduct in-depth investigations into those transactions and to submit reports to the authorities in the shortest possible time, increasing the chances of halting criminal activity.
UOB’s new solution is also better able to learn from new money laundering methods and to prevent them from being successful. The Bank is using the AI solution to screen all customers and transactions involving Singapore-based UOB accounts and is expanding the solution to cover all UOB accounts globally.
Mr Victor Ngo, Head of Group Compliance, UOB, said,
“At UOB, we made early investments in artificial intelligence and began our AML proof of concept two years ago. Our AI solution works concurrently on two AML risk dimensions, which is technically more difficult, but also more fruitful as it helps us to pinpoint criminals trying to pose as customers. UOB will continue to invest in advanced technology to strengthen our AML system to deal with emerging risks.
