Financial software and technology giant FIS is teaming up with credit scoring company FICO to roll out a new anti-money laundering (AML) platform as concerns rise over fraud and the global flow of dirty cash amid the pandemic.
The Jacksonville-based FIS said in a press release that its new AML system will draw upon “machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)” to detect suspicious transactions, alert financial institutions (FIs) and arm “bank investigators with detailed, transparent intelligence.”
The product rollout comes as money laundering activity surges: The United Nations estimates that anywhere from $800 billion to $3 trillion in dirty money is laundered each year through FIs by organized crime and other nefarious players.
The number for the United States alone is $300 billion, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The new FIS/FICO product, the FIS AML Compliance Manager, features FICO® Falcon® X “decision management technology,” the companies said. The aim of the new product is to provide a single AML platform that FIs can use to both detect flows of illegal cash and stay in compliance with federal AML regulations.
“FIS is committed to helping our clients stay one step ahead of financial criminals who are using increasingly sophisticated tools to try to hide illicit money activities through the U.S. financial system,” said Jim Johnson, head of global payments and wealth at FIS, in a press release. “By partnering with FICO, FIS is providing a leading-edge solution to automate routine tasks and reduce false positives that make AML compliance management so challenging, allowing employees to work more efficiently.”
Another feature of the new system is its ability to more accurately identify actual cases of money laundering and cut down on the number of false positives, the companies said. These are cases when transactions are initially flagged as suspicious, only to be cleared up on further review.
“FICO is pleased to partner with FIS to offer best-in-class financial crime management technology to meet evolving needs of its clients,” said Doug Clare, vice president of financial crimes product management at FICO, in a press release.
