UBS clamps down on money laundering

Swiss bank UBS said Monday it would use a British technology firm's artificial intelligence software to monitor all banking transactions, in a bid to thwart money laundering. In January, a dozen of the world's largest financial institutions, including UBS, pledged to clamp down on funds that could be used to finance groups with violent aims. As a result, banks have stepped up investment in anti-money laundering measures, and many of them are increasingly turning to the latest technology to automate the process.

UBS hired SearchSpace, a London-based technology firm that has developed technology which can pinpoint suspect transactions within vast data flows for financial institutions. The London Stock Exchange, for example, uses SearchSpace's artificial intelligence software, dubbed Intelligence Enterprise Framework, to detect particular market abuses, such as insider trading and share-price ramping activities. UBS, which logs millions of transactions per day, will implement SearchSpace's digital anti-money laundering sentinels to flag suspicious movements of funds through the bank.

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