Moving financial crime compliance to the cloud can help banks and other institutions future-proof their business
Financial institutions are turning to the cloud to solve increasingly complex conundrums. This blog explores how the cloud can help organizations meet their financial crime compliance obligations.
The world changes on a constant basis with elections, war, and upheaval bringing uncertainty, regulation overhaul, and almost constant government watchlist and sanctions list updates. One of the few things that remains constant is the need to fight crime.
Financial institutions must find a more efficient and agile way to tackle crime and meet their compliance requirements. That’s why there’s never been a better time to upgrade to AI SaaS for financial crime prevention and harness the benefits of cloud technology. Here are five reasons why.
#1 – Reduce the risk of gaps in your anti-financial crime processes
Challenging regulatory requirements and the complex array of systems required to run a financial crime compliance function demand robust risk management. Financial organizations must adhere to stringent risk management models – such as BASEL III (and its updates in January 2025) – and this has the potential to impact efficiency. The alternative is cutting corners to meet deadlines.
Some financial organizations also express concern about whether their current systems and processes are good enough to maintain pace with escalating anti-financial crime obligations across the compliance landscape.
That’s why the cloud is proving so valuable. Financial crime compliance technology in the cloud can provide ubiquitous access for compliance teams (even when they’re working remotely) while also increasing visibility over end-to-end processes. This prevents gaps from emerging and results in ever-improving efficiency as well as closer adherence to regulatory requirements.
#2 – Scalable compliance technology and computing power in the cloud
During crunch points, financial institutions need the agility to process vast volumes of data at speed. But after those peaks have passed, these institutions don’t want to be left paying for capacity they don’t need. With scalable compliance technology in the cloud, organizations can flex as demand dictates – a similar reason for why AI SaaS for financial crime prevention is becoming so popular within the industry.
So, if a bank need to address a massive spike in AML transaction monitoring or review a large number of accounts, teams can turn on more engines to process that information quicker (and then switch them off when done).
Cloud technology also allows organizations to scale remote workforces and build the foundations for new ways of working in the future. The number of people who work from home has increased in the past five years and that upward trajectory is expected to continue. With remote working and hybrid working here to stay, the cloud helps to ensure employees have secure access to necessary platforms, wherever they are.
#3 – Compliance in the cloud simplifies processes and drives down costs
Cost efficiency matters more than ever. Compliance managers are struggling with increasing costs as they bid to maintain an effective function. Some also highlight how Know-Your-Customer (KYC) checks have increased, driving up the required headcount and associated costs.
The industry is under pressure to strip costs from non-revenue generating areas, which is why there are huge benefits to using SaaS in financial crime prevention. FinTech and RegTech innovation is providing new ways to automate and simplify core compliance processes. The cost-crunching capabilities of AI SaaS for financial crime prevention, automation, and the cloud – to name just three – can be a boon for banks and financial institutions. It gives them greater control over spend and improving overall efficiency.
#4 – Fortified global security
If there were any concerns about the risk and liability associated with the cloud, they’ve long since been mitigated. Data breaches happen not because of cloud platform weaknesses but due to endemic corporate security failures. If anything, the cloud is making people realize how fragile their internal and on-premises systems are.
Larger institutions aren’t as agile and take longer to adapt to changing cyber security threats. In contrast, cloud vendors like Azure, AWS and Google can, at speed, offer significantly more secure environments than those a financial institution could achieve internally. Alongside this, it frees up internal IT departments for other requirements.
#5 – Improved financial crime detection systems and data
With the financial crime compliance landscape shifting beneath their feet, financial institutions are striving to make the most of their data and fully embrace analytics with advanced products like the multi award-winning Sensa Investigation Hub.
As teams battle to understand how data flows between different alerting processes and regulatory systems, layers of complexity emerge. Data governance also poses a significant challenge.
The cloud simplifies this complexity. It enables accurate, timely governance and addresses the challenge of data held on different systems, unifying it to improve accessibility and to simplify extraction.
SymphonyAI offers an exciting cloud-based future for financial institutions
SymphonyAI provides AI SaaS for financial crime prevention that has been developed from the ground up. An end-to-end offering compiled from more than 25 years of knowledge in tackling money laundering and fraud, our award-winning product ecosystem, including being chosen as the 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year for Business Transformation – AI Innovation, comprises an innovative and modern approach to financial crime investigation using world-leading predictive and gen AI.
From KYC/CDD and transaction monitoring through to payment fraud, entity resolution, and sanctions, PEP, and adverse media screening, SymphonyAI is a trusted name in finance technology with more than a third of the world’s top 100 banks enjoying the power, efficiency, effectiveness and productivity that our solutions provide.
Get in touch to learn more about moving your financial crime compliance solutions to the cloud.
