THE USE OF GOOGLE GLASS IN AML/CFT COMPLIANCE

When I served as a compliance officer, conducting enhanced due diligence on high-risk clients, I found that two hands were not enough for the tasks that I wanted to perform. Searching commercial off-the-shelf high risk databases, Google, public records, and other resources, all demand your strict attention, lest you miss something. I know that some compliance officers use two monitors, and two computers, simultaneously; other use their IPhone on one hand, while typing on their PC or Mac, with the other.

Hands-free would be the ideal way to conduct inquiries, but voice-activated software is not always appropriate, or useful, when the information you are seeking, or your target, was originally in another language, or still is. What to do ?

This week's news included a small article, detailing how the New York Police Department is now testing the sue of Google Glass, which is not only hands free, and voice activated, but goes with you everywhere. The police want to see whether their officers could benefits from real-time information retrieval on subjects they encounter on the street. If you remember the original film, Robo Cop,  or have seen the remake, you know that law enforcement's use of instantly-available information, for the officer on the beat, would be a vast improvement over presently-available technology.

Robo Cop's heads-up display

Therefore, one wonders which bank's compliance department will now decide to road-test Google Glass. I, for one, think that it will speed up CIP inquiries, and permit a compliance officer to escape his tether to the PC desktop. It might even allow compliance officer to utilize their commuting and travel time, (if they use public transportation) to work on their files.