In “Pandemic Adding to Banks’ Alert Backlog” (8 July 2020, Thomson Reuters), Tom Bock, global co-head of Financial Crimes Risk and Compliance, pens an article on how banks can get back on track after the pandemic. According to Tom, the uptick in mobile banking during the pandemic will lead to institutions with inefficient transaction-clearing processes struggling to keep pace with business as usual (BAU) alerts for a long time, let alone more serious anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) alerts. Financial institutions have an enormous—and growing—volume of transactions to monitor in BAU activity.
With the coronavirus pandemic keeping many customers at home, the surge in mobile banking is adding to an already large backlog of BAU transaction alerts. Tom notes there are key ways banks can address the growing volume of alerts, including:
- Develop a methodology to address the backlog
- Find ways to increase efficiency, such as deploying staff in different ways
- Maintain compliance standards that were established in “normal” times
- Review and reinforce network security
- Partner with third parties and outside experts to help review transactions
Read the full article in Thomson Reuters.
