More than four out of five anti-money laundering and customer onboarding professionals simply use Google

From: RegTech Analyst

While the growing number of money laundering scandals have confirmed the need to protect businesses against fraud, many analysts simply rely on Google.

Having surveyed 156 anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) professionals, RegTech company Arachnys has revealed that 85% used Google for their due diligence or risk investigations. Morevover, 16% even stated that they rely on Google for these procedures.

“When I founded Arachnys almost a decade ago, I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me that four in five organisations would still be using Google heavily to drive mission-critical AML and KYC processes,” said David Buxton, founder and CEO at Arachnys. “As Google continues to blur the line between advertisements and content, and reduces the precision of its search syntax to prioritise consumer searches, alternatives become more and more critical.”

There is no shortage of cases where money laundering accusations have landed financial executives in hot waters.

For instance. European banks are still feeling the shockwaves of the Danske Bank money laundering scandal. Several executives at both Danske Bank and Swedbank have either faced criminal charges or been ousted from the companies because of the scandal.

The scandal has deteriorated the trust in incumbent lenders.

In Scandinavia, this has provided an opportunity for Nordic challenger banks to finally get a foothold of the market.

Another example of a money laundering scandal can be found in India where the founder of Yes Bank is being held in custody facing criminal charges.

Copyright © 2020 FinTech Global

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