Google Cloud Launches Anti Money Laundering AI for Financial Institutions
In Brief
Google Cloud has launched an AI-powered anti money laundering product for financial institutions.
Google Cloud’s AML AI provides a consolidated machine learning-generated customer risk score based on the bank’s data.
It uses roprietary ML technology as well as Google Cloud technologies, such as Vertex AI and BigQuery.
Google Cloud has announced today the launch of its Anti Money Laundering AI (AML AI), an artificial-intelligence-powered product designed for financial institutions to detect money laundering more effectively.
According to the United Nations, the amount of money laundered each year is estimated to be 2% – 5% of global GDP, or between $800 billion and $2 trillion. Money laundering is usually connected to criminal activities ranging from drug and human trafficking to terrorist financing.
Per HSBC’s Cloud Based Financial Crime Detection at Scale report, large financial institutions monitor at least 4 billion transactions yearly. Since money laundering schemes are getting increasingly sophisticated, the feat is resource-consuming as these financial institutions operate within various global and regional regulatory bodies.
According to the press release, most legacy AML monitoring products rely on manually defined rules which money launderers can learn to work around and avoid detection. As an alternative, Google Cloud’s AML AI provides a consolidated machine learning (ML)-generated customer risk score based on the bank’s data, including transactional patterns, network behavior, and know-your-customer (KYC) data.
This risk score can be used to detect high-risk retail and commercial customers both individually and in groups. The AML AI can adapt to changes in the underlying data, resulting in more accurate outcomes, which in turn enhances the program’s effectiveness and improves operational efficiency.
“Google is a pioneer in AI, and now we’re making our tools, technologies, and expertise available to solve one of the biggest and most costly challenges in the financial services industry,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, in a statement.
Google Cloud’s AML AI uses ML and Google Cloud technologies, such as Vertex AI and BigQuery. The product handles the complexities of running ML at scale while providing explanations of outputs, enabling financial institutions to streamline the investigation workflow. Google Cloud says the product has been implemented in various regulatory jurisdictions across different geographical locations.
For instance, HSBC uses Google Cloud’s AML AI as its primary AML transaction monitoring system in its key markets. This helped HSBC improve detection capability, deliver more accurate results, and significantly reduce batch processing times for its large customer base. As a result, HSBC was awarded the Celent Model Risk Manager of the Year 2023.
“By enhancing our customer monitoring framework with Google Cloud’s sophisticated AI-based product, we have been able to improve the precision of our financial crime detection and reduce alert volumes meaning less investigation time is spent chasing false leads. We have also reduced the processing time required to analyze billions of transactions across millions of accounts from several weeks to a few days,”
said Jennifer Calvery, Group Head of Financial Crime Risk and Compliance at HSBC.
In the future, Google Cloud plans to offer Generative AI foundations for the financial services sector to boost employee productivity by reducing the time required for analysts to investigate potential suspicious activities.
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About The Author
Cindy is a journalist at Metaverse Post, covering topics related to web3, NFT, metaverse and AI, with a focus on interviews with Web3 industry players. She has spoken to over 30 C-level execs and counting, bringing their valuable insights to readers. Originally from Singapore, Cindy is now based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Media Studies from the University of South Australia and has a decade of experience in journalism and writing. Get in touch with her via cindy@mpost.io with press pitches, announcements and interview opportunities.
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Cindy is a journalist at Metaverse Post, covering topics related to web3, NFT, metaverse and AI, with a focus on interviews with Web3 industry players. She has spoken to over 30 C-level execs and counting, bringing their valuable insights to readers. Originally from Singapore, Cindy is now based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Media Studies from the University of South Australia and has a decade of experience in journalism and writing. Get in touch with her via cindy@mpost.io with press pitches, announcements and interview opportunities.
