Latest news with #FinancialCrime
Finextra
30-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons: Can AI and quantum computing turn the tide?
0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. Marked on 30 July, International Human Trafficking Day, otherwise known as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, was established in response to a request for the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to host a meeting to counter the buying and selling of fellow humans in 2006. Fast forward to 2015, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda embraced the need for measures against human trafficking. Despite this goal being established a decade ago, human trafficking remains one of the most insidious crimes of our time. While hidden in plain sight, this form of organised crime continues to be embedded within global financial systems. From 2020 to 2023, there were over 200,000 detected victims of human trafficking globally, according to the UN. Focusing on the word detected, the actual number is thought to be significantly higher, in the tens of millions across the world. The financial services industry has a responsibility and a clear opportunity to disrupt these networks, and in some cases, there are clear methods to do just that. The WWF, for instance, released an environmental financial crime toolkit at COP16 in Cali, Colombia in October 2024 to help financial institutions minimise their exposure to this form of fraud. By reducing their risk exposure to illicit financial flows associated with land conversion, the financing and impact of this activity can also be decreased. As the WWF states, 'environmental crime frequently converges with and often enables different financial crimes, including corruption and bribery, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and drugs, wildlife and human trafficking.' The financial trail of exploitation At the time of the WWF toolkit release, Celine Herweijer, group chief sustainability officer, HSBC, said: 'As a global trade bank, HSBC understands the complexities of global supply chains and the need to take a comprehensive approach to risk management in supporting our clients. The Environmental Crime Financial Toolkit is a practical way of helping financial institutions to improve their understanding of the risks related to the natural environment alongside financial crimes and secure nature-positive outcomes.' To be clear, financial institutions are involved in human trafficking primarily through the laundering of money gained through trafficking activities. Banks are implicated when facilitating traffickers attempting to move and conceal their gains through prepaid cards and mobile payment applications, bank accounts and credit cards, remittance services and cryptocurrency. Funnel accounts may also be used to deposit illicit funds in one location and withdraw from another. Alongside this, direct financial exploitation of victims through control over financial identities and banking products can also be considered implication, especially if they are coerced into opening accounts, taking out loans, or being forced to commit financial fraud. Instead of being part of the problem, banks must strengthen their detection techniques and regularly report suspicious financial activity. Further, staff should be trained to recognise red flags. Indicators of human trafficking A third party controlling a customer's interactions or documents, A lack of knowledge about their location, Signs of poor health or abuse, Frequent transactions in different locations, Activity inconsistent with the customer's profile, Frequent cash deposits without corresponding payments, Use of prepaid cards and transactions linked to online commercial sex advertisements or foreign classified websites. Traffickers rely on financial infrastructure to move money, pay accomplices, and launder profits. These transactions often appear ordinary - hotel bookings, transportation costs, small transfers - but when viewed through the right lens, they reveal patterns. A Polaris Project 2018 report revealed that while 'there are certainly some completely un-banked traffickers, a significant portion of that overwhelming sum passes through legitimate financial services businesses. This happens through thousands of diffuse, small transactions. These intersection points offer ample – albeit not obvious or easy – opportunity for financial institutions to detect and disrupt human trafficking.' Quantum computing: The next leap after AI AI and machine learning are already being deployed to detect these anomalies. By analysing vast volumes of transactional data, AI can identify red flags such as unusual payment flows, repeated use of certain merchant categories, or geographic inconsistencies. Natural language processing (NLP) tools can also scan online platforms and dark web forums for trafficking-related language, helping banks and law enforcement stay ahead of evolving tactics. Initiatives such as the Safe House Project, a nonprofit organisation working to increase identification of survivors, believe that Ai is becoming an 'essential weapon in the fight to protect vulnerable populations and dismantle trafficking networks.' They go on to explain that AI is being used 'to track the untrackable. Traffickers often operate through subtle, coded language on social media, encrypted apps, and unindexed dark websites. AI tools can process millions of data points in real-time to detect suspicious activity, flag concerning language, and build predictive models that anticipate trafficking activity.' However, the Safe House Project also explain that technology is 'not a solution by itself. When AI or data-driven models are deployed without survivor-informed oversight, they risk reinforcing harmful narrative or oversimplifying complex trauma. For example, automated systems that rely solely on keyword detection may flag false positives or miss nuanced cases, particularly in communities of color or with non-English-speaking survivors. This can lead to misidentification, retraumatization, or even criminalization of survivors.' Technology should not be relied upon alone. Technology should be combined with training, trauma-informed practice, and direct survivor engagement. While AI is already making an impact, quantum computing holds promise for the next frontier. This technology enables advanced data analysis, pattern recognition, and could potentially provide the secure communication needed to surpass current classical computing methods and consider the sensitive aspect of this fraudulent behaviour. Its ability to process and correlate massive, complex datasets at unprecedented speed could revolutionise how institutions detect trafficking networks. Quantum algorithms could simulate criminal financial ecosystems, optimise detection models, and enhance encryption protocols to protect victims' identities. Though still in its early stages, quantum computing offers a glimpse into a future where financial crime detection is not just reactive, but predictive. Quantum algorithms are also being developed further to analyse social media for recruitment patterns and trace cryptocurrency transactions used by traffickers. Although, the use of advanced technologies like quantum computing in anti-trafficking efforts raises important concerns about data privacy, potential biases in algorithms, and the need for robust ethical guidelines and frameworks to ensure responsible use and protect human rights. Why bank leaders must act For financial institutions, this is not just a compliance issue, t's a moral imperative. Banks are uniquely positioned to intervene, but doing so requires more than technology. It demands cross-sector collaboration, ethical data use, and a commitment to putting human dignity first. As digital transformation accelerates, so does the risk of traffickers exploiting new channels. But with that risk comes responsibility and opportunity. On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, we must reframe the role of financial services: not just as gatekeepers of capital, but as guardians of human freedom.
Associated Press
02-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Quantexa Named a Luminary in Everest Group's Innovation Watch Report
LONDON, July 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Quantexa, a global leader in Decision Intelligence (DI) for the public and private sectors, today announced it has been named as a Luminary in Everest Group's Innovation Watch: Generative AI Applications in Financial Crime and Compliance (FCC) report. This prestigious acknowledgment highlights Quantexa's innovative use of generative AI as part of its' Decision Intelligence Platform, to transform the financial crime and compliance practice. At the center of this recognition is Q Assist, Quantexa's context-aware Agentic AI capability designed to augment trusted decision-making at enterprise scale. Q Assist leverages the full power of Quantexa's Decision Intelligence Platform - combining a dynamic contextual data fabric, a generative AI prompt builder, and an intelligent co-pilot. By integrating deeply with graph analytics, Q Assist provides investigators and compliance teams with instant access to connected insights, surfacing hidden relationships and patterns across vast, complex datasets. Since its launch in 2024, Q Assist has rapidly progressed from pilot to production, delivering measurable impact across critical use cases such as third-party investigations, SAR creation, and real-time risk assessments. Quantexa's Luminary status reflects the company's leadership position in leveraging advanced AI technologies to address the growing complexity and resource intensity of financial crime compliance. As noted in the Everest Group report, generative AI holds significant promise for transforming the FCC value chain by automating labor-intensive tasks, revealing previously hidden insights, and detecting anomalies in near real-time. The Everest Group report highlights that 75% of providers are building robust go-to-market and technology partnerships. Quantexa sets the standard through its strategic collaborations with Microsoft, Google, Databricks, Accenture, KPMG, and PwC - bringing together best-in-class technology and expertise to support mission-critical transformation programs for some of the world's largest banks. ' Quantexa's development of Q Assist represents a practical and meaningful application of generative AI in financial crime compliance. By embedding context-aware intelligence into core processes like entity resolution, SAR report creation, and risk assessment, Quantexa empowers investigators with real-time, actionable insights,' said Dheeraj Maken, Practice Director at Everest Group. ' With Q Assist now moving from pilot to production across key use cases, Quantexa is solidifying its position in the AI-driven decision intelligence space and is therefore featured among the Luminaries in Everest Group's Innovation Watch Assessment.' This recognition follows Quantexa's recently completed $175 million Series F funding round, which valued the company at $2.6 billion and positions it to accelerate global growth, platform innovation, and go-to-market momentum. ' This recognition from Everest Group validates our commitment to delivering practical, production-ready AI solutions that address the real-world challenges facing financial crime compliance teams,' said Matt Long, Global Head of Financial Crime Risk for Financial Services and Government at Quantexa. " Q Assist showcases the transformative potential of context-aware generative AI in investigative workflows, accelerating complex investigation and upholding the trust and explainability essential to regulated industries ' To find out more about Quantexa's fincrime solutions, please visit: About Quantexa Quantexa is a global AI, data and analytics software company pioneering Decision Intelligence to empower organizations to make trusted operational decisions with data in context. Using the latest advancements in AI, Quantexa's Decision Intelligence platform helps organizations uncover hidden risk and new opportunities by unifying siloed data and turning it into the most trusted, reusable resource. It solves major challenges across data management, customer intelligence, KYC, financial crime, risk, fraud, and security, throughout the customer lifecycle. The Quantexa Decision Intelligence Platform enhances operational performance with over 90% more accuracy and 60 times faster analytical model resolution than traditional approaches. An independently commissioned Forrester TEI study on Quantexa's Decision Intelligence Platform found that customers saw a three-year 228% ROI. Founded in 2016, Quantexa now has over 800 employees and thousands of platform users working with billions of transactions and data points across the world. For more information visit or follow us on LinkedIn. Media Inquiries C: Stephanie Crisp, Director and Growth Tech Lead, Fight or Flight E: [email protected] C: Adam Jaffe, SVP of Corporate Marketing T: +1 609 502 6889 E: [email protected] - or - [email protected]
Gulf Today
21-05-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
CBUAE's forum reviews financial inclusion and literacy policies
In a move to solidify the UAE's position as a global financial hub, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has organised the 1st National Financial Inclusion and Literacy Policy Forum in Abu Dhabi. This event is marked as the first step to launch the National Financial Inclusion Strategy and the National Financial Literacy Strategy. The Forum was attended by Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE; Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of Ministry of Finance; Hamid Al Zaabi, Secretary-General and Vice-Chair of the UAE National Committee for Combatting Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations; Mohamed Bin Taliah, Chief of Government Services of the UAE; Fatma Al Jabri, Assistant Governor for Financial Crime, Market Conduct and Consumer Protection at the CBUAE; Saif Al Dhaheri, Assistant Governor for Banking Operations and Support Services at the CBUAE. Senior officials and representatives of various federal and local entities, the financial sector and international financial institutions have also attended the forum. The forum was organised in line with the CBUAE's efforts to achieve the UAE's sustainable development goals, the CBUAE's objectives to enhance financial inclusion and awareness, and broadening access to financial services for all society sectors to foster sustainable economic growth. The financial inclusion and literacy strategies aim at empowering consumers, small and medium enterprises, and underbanked people through targeted initiatives and tailored educational programmes. These strategies will also focus on building an innovative financial ecosystem based on digitalisation and technological solutions to ensure equality and easy access to financial services by all community sectors. The development of these strategies will be rooted in thorough specialised studies and in-depth research, with the participation of federal and local government entities, private sector and community members, ensuring coordinated and integrated efforts throughout the development and implementation phases. With the goal of aligning both strategies with international best practices, the CBUAE and the World Bank have signed a partnership agreement aimed at enhancing joint cooperation in the formulation of both national strategies and the exchange of technical expertise. Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, and Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, witnessed the signing ceremony. The agreement was signed by Fatma Al Jabri, Assistant Governor for Financial Crime, Market Conduct and Consumer Protection at the CBUAE, and Safaa El Tayeb El-Kogali, World Bank's Country Director for the GCC Countries, in the presence of senior officials from both organisations. Fatma Al Jabri said, 'The formulation of two strategies for financial inclusion and financial literacy marks a crucial advancement towards fulfilling the leadership's vision to bolster financial and economic stability and elevating social welfare in the UAE. This entails the widening of reach to financial services to encompass all societal groups and enhancing the financial infrastructure. She added, 'At CBUAE, we are committed to developing effective partnerships with global financial institutions, notably the World Bank. We are dedicated to promoting initiatives that improve financial literacy and engagement by all society segments within the financial ecosystem. These endeavours are instrumental to build a prosperous society, thereby cementing the nation's prominent standing as a global financial hub.' Safaa El Tayeb El-Kogali said, 'The financial inclusion fosters economic growth and employment, promotes economic empowerment of women and supports entrepreneurship and business growth.' She added, 'Through innovation and partnerships, the World Bank has supported over 100 developing countries in advancing financial inclusion. Today, we are excited to collaborate with the Central Bank of the UAE to develop strategies that enable every individual in the UAE to fully engage in the financial system and make informed financial decisions.' A week earlier, banking operations statistics released by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) showed that the value of transfers executed within the country's banking sector through the UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS) rose by 15.5 per cent during the first two months of this year (January and February), reaching Dhs3.4 trillion compared to Dhs2.962 trillion during the same period last year. Of this, the value of transfers executed by banks during the first two months of this year amounted to Dhs2.093 trillion, distributed as follows: Dhs1.1 trillion in January and Dhs983.99 billion in February. Meanwhile, the value of transfers executed by customers and institutions during the same period reached Dhs1.327 trillion, broken down as: Dhs677.65 billion in January and Dhs649.48 billion in February. The forum was organised in line with the CBUAE's efforts to achieve the UAE's sustainable development goals
The National
20-05-2025
- Business
- The National
UAE Central Bank fines exchange house Dh200m for breaching anti-money laundering rules
The UAE central Bank has imposed a financial sanction of Dh200 million ($54.45 million) on an exchange house in the country for breaching anti-money laundering regulations, as it continues its fight against illicit financial activity in accordance with international standards. The banking regulator fined the exchange house for 'significant failures' in its anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and illegal organisations framework, and related regulations, it said in a statement on Tuesday, without naming the exchange house. The penalty is based on the results of the findings of examinations conducted by the regulator. A financial sanction of $500,000 was also imposed on a branch manager, who has also been prohibited from holding any position within any licensed financial institutions in the UAE, the regulator said. The UAE has made significant strides in the fight against financial crime in recent years. Effective policies on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism are key to the integrity and stability of the international financial system and the economies of nations, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Finextra
14-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Nasdaq Ventures and Macquarie Bank invest in Fincom
Fincom, a leader in anti-money laundering (AML) Sanction Screening and Entity Resolution technology, today announced the successful completion of its Series B funding round, securing a strategic investment led by Nasdaq Ventures, with participation from Macquarie Group, G1 Ventures, and existing investors including AnD Ventures and ff Venture Capital. 0 This investment marks a significant milestone in Fincom's growth journey and underscores confidence in its vision and market potential. Global banks are facing increasing complexity in managing sanctions compliance, with resource constraints, evolving regulatory requirements, and limitations in legacy Sanctions and Watchlist screening solutions that result in high volumes of false positives. According to research by Celent, sanctions screening alone makes up 20% of the $35 billion spent on Financial Crime & Compliance technology by financial institutions globally. The digitization of financial services has led to faster payments, requiring scalable solutions that handle an increased volume of transactions. Meanwhile today's geopolitical landscape underscores the need for additional data and multilanguage capabilities. Fincom's unique approach to sanctions screening leverages proprietary computational linguistics, distance-based algorithms, and advanced phonetics that are structure-, language-, and data source-agnostic. This innovative approach enables Fincom to more seamlessly compare and match written text in multiple languages and sources, delivering greater accuracy and efficiency in alerts all while consistently driving over 80% operational cost savings for its clients. Today, dozens of U.S. banks leverage Fincom's AML compliance solutions to mitigate sanctions risk and ensure regulatory compliance. Gideon Drori, Founder and CEO of Fincom, said 'This investment is a testament to the hard work and achievements of our team, our customers' confidence in our solutions, and the trust our investors have in our vision. We are excited to take the next step in enhancing the AML compliance space, making a substantial positive impact and delivering significant value to our current and future customers.' In addition to joining the Nasdaq Ventures portfolio, Fincom will enter a global partnership with Nasdaq Verafin, Nasdaq's financial crime management technology business. A trusted partner to more than 2,600 financial institutions, Nasdaq Verafin has delivered industry-leading solutions and innovative data approaches to address the complex needs of banks' anti-financial crime programs for more than two decades. Through this partnership, financial institution clients of Nasdaq Verafin and Fincom will benefit from advanced Sanctions Screening capabilities, leading to increased efficiency, reduced costs, better compliance, and improved customer engagement through innovative technology. 'Fincom brings a wholly unique and innovative approach to sanctions screening that delivers faster, more accurate results when compared to legacy approaches, simplifying the increasingly complex world of AML compliance and enabling improved regulatory adherence,' said Gary Offner, Senior Vice President, Head of Nasdaq Ventures at Nasdaq. 'We are pleased to welcome Fincom to the Nasdaq Ventures portfolio. With the launch of our new partnership between Nasdaq Verafin and Fincom, we have an opportunity to build upon the natural synergies between our two platforms, leveraging state-of-the-art technologies to help our clients better identify and address instances of potential financial crime.' Gary Munitz, Global Co-Head Macquarie Capital Venture Capital, said 'Fincom's AML solutions deliver exceptional value, as evidenced by the company's extraordinary growth and stellar client retention. We are excited to partner with Fincom's founders and employees to accelerate their strategy of replacing legacy providers and manual processes with cloud-based, market-proven AML solutions.' Earlier this year, Fincom announced the expansion of its U.S. team to support the growing North American market. Proceeds from the Series B financing will support Fincom's efforts to accelerate its international growth and launch new offerings, including screening for Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and adverse media, as well as Verification of Payee (VOP) services.
