HSBC said it is deploying robots to help it identify money laundering, fraud and terrorist funding. The deployment will be part of the bank’s initiative in making use of artificial intelligence to tackle financial crime more effectively. The bank intends to integrate the AI system Quantexa, developed by a UK-based startup, to screen the data it holds on customers and their transactions against publicly available data and identify suspicious activity. HSBC had recently frozen an account connected to an alleged $500 million fraud by the son of Angola’s former president. HSBC has invested billions of pounds to improve its compliance controls after a $1.9 billion settlement in 2012 to avoid criminal charges for allegedly laundering at least $881 million for Mexican drug barons and breaching US sanctions on countries including Iran and Sudan.
