AI in anti-money laundering wins landmark victory

Dutch challenger bank bunq has won a “landmark” victory over the country’s Central Bank (DNB) over the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for its AFC processes.

The Dutch Central Bank had initially banned bunq’s use of AI and machine learning to conduct AML (anti-money laundering) monitoring. This led to the bank suing the Central Bank.

In a statement, bunq said DNB’s stance on AML was “antiquated and ineffective”, in contrast to the firm’s use of “modern technology such as AI to mitigate risks.”

The Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal ruled in favour of bunq on the appeal.

CEO and founder of bunq Ali Niknam said: “We made history today. The court has paved the way for progress.”

At Xapien, we know that AI and machine learning are necessary tools in fighting financial crime. Criminals are using increasingly sophisticated tech to commit fraud and money laundering, so we need 21st century tech to combat this.

Xapien’s truly intelligent AI scours the length and breadth of the internet reading and analysing millions of corporate records, shareholder data, media and news articles on your behalf. It presents networks, associations and risks in a simple way that enables humans to understand nuanced risk profiles and make the kind of complicated decisions about next steps that only humans can. This enables our clients to focus on onboarding the right clients, quickly, while preventing from working with the wrong ones.

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