Using AI, the market data and news giant’s Media Check helps firms uncover new data via their due diligence to prevent financial crime.
Thomson Reuters is applying artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning technologies to media screening and processing to help financial services firms gather more relevant data for their due diligence efforts to prevent hiring financial criminals.
The new capability, Media Check, is an enhancement to its World-Check One platform that is intended to help firms find stories and date that they may have overlook as they scan to fight off financial crime.
“Using media content to identify that a business customer has previously been engaged in financial crimes allows and enhances the risk management of that customer relationship, including the termination of further interactions which may be linked to financial crimes,” says Mike Moreno, senior product manager for risk at Thomson Reuters, in response to questions from FTF News. The filtered data from Media Check is delivered “through the World-Check One Web application” Moreno adds.
The Media Check’s machine learning capability filters “unstructured content from over 11,000 global print and web sources,” according to Thomson Reuters.
“Institutions need to digest an increasing amount of relevant information to help prevent financial crime. The next-generation AI technology in Media Check lets them navigate this crowded environment to help comply with regulatory and other requirements and avoid the reputational risk of missing critical information that could result in criminal activity,” says Phil Cotter, managing director, Risk Segment, Thomson Reuters, in a prepared statement.
The Media Check’s filtering process relies upon “intelligent searching, a unique AML [anti-money laundering] taxonomy informed by 15 years of industry leading World-Check experience,” according to the vendor. The machine learning algorithms were developed by the World-Check research team and they have led to “a reduction in false positives and improved content navigation” in support of more informed decision-making, officials say. The Media Check feature also offers “continuous, up-to-date media and data monitoring.”
While there may be future links between Media Check and other Thomson Reuters offerings, for now the system is for compliance staffers. “Contractually, the use of this solution is limited to users engaged in the global fight against financial crime,” Moreno says.
In fact, the vendor declares that the information via World-Check “is made available on a subscription basis only to those who require it to carry out due diligence or other screening activities in accordance with their legal or regulatory obligations or risk management procedures designed to combat financial crime,” officials say.
“Plans to make this AI/machine learning workflow management capability available through other Thomson Reuters products are under consideration,” Moreno adds.
The World-Check risk intelligence database is managed by a team of more than 350 analysts that speak more than 65 languages. The analysts monitor more than 600 sanctions, regulatory and law enforcement lists and thousands of media sources, as well as company information and regulatory filings, to ensure World-Check’s data is accurate and up-to-date, according to Thomson Reuters.
Earlier this year, the Customer Risk Screener app was added to the platform, “integrating World-Check data into the Salesforce AppExchange,” officials say. In addition, a Watchlist Screening function was launched to help users upload and manage their internal and public third-party lists for screening alongside the World-Check data.
Thomson Reuters provides market and reference data, global news, and securities transaction systems.
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