THE USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE TO PHYSICALLY STOP MONEY LAUNDERERS AND FRAUDSTERS FROM USING THE FACILITIES OF A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION

Which one is the money launderer entering your bank?

As a former career money launderer (10 years experience), I know how easy it is, with the right credentials, for anyone to enter a financial institution, to move money, commit a fraudulent act, or even provide financial assistance to a terrorist organization America's success rate with stopping such criminal acts, in real time, is abysmal, looking at the statistics.

If you are following the most recent developments in the use of next generation facial recognition software, you know that it is becoming more common for certain types of establishments, that serve the general public, to employ closed circuit cameras connected to such platforms, to be able to identify and target specific persons, so that such individuals can be either banned, removed, or closely monitored, to ascertain whether they pose a distinct threat to the premises, its staff, its operations, or could be collecting intelligence or information deemed to be possible existential or commercial threat.

Now take that existing solution, and apply it to financial institutions open to the general public. Could commercial banks use facial recognition software to identify potential financial crime threat actors, as they enter the premises, and therefore reduce the risk that they succeed at the tellers' windows, or with the account representatives, through the use of an alert system, advising staff that a dangerous individual was indeed inside the bank? I know you might consider there to be both privacy concerns, accuracy concerns, and even due process issues, but remember this: the law does not require that banks must offer their services to all persons, without exception. Banks can, and often do, deny services on a risk management basis.

As to what must be in that unique facial recognition platform, which will give a specific bank's security team the ability to know who the bad actors are, especially those who have never been convicted of a crime, I have a specific answer to that question, which I learned from my laundryman days, but disclosing it here in a public sphere, would give away the edger which banks need to stop financial crime in real time, in its tracks. They are the methods money launderers use to keep from getting caught in the first place. If you are a bold risk management professional who is not afraid to travel new roads, reach put to me, and we can have that conversation. I can be found at: miamicompliance@gmail.com