Huge amounts of data are generated, stored and used every day
"The level of regulatory compliance is so extensive that we believe it is only realistically achievable with AI technology," says COO Hugo Chamberlain
smartKYC recently won the ‘Most Innovative Use of AI' category at Computing's Technology Product Awards for its False Hit Filtering solution. These Awards recognise the very best projects and products in the market today - all chosen by Computing's expert audience of CIOs and other senior IT leaders.
With vast amounts of data being generated every second, it's imperative for financial institutions to find a way to process and analyse all of it, and to get the precise results and accurate insights they need to avoid risk and fulfil compliance and due diligence requirements. The use of tech enables this to be done at speed and at scale, making it an invaluable tool in today's world.
smartKYC COO Hugo Chamberlain says, "Through the use of technology and AI, [False Hit Filtering] can complete a task that otherwise would have taken a team of 50 over a year's worth of human labour in just 50 hours."
We talked to Chamberlain about how his company had stood out among stiff competition.
Computing: Why is tech important to the modern financial services industry?
Hugo Chamberlain: Tech is now the most important part of all our lives. In terms of corporate environments, tech is imperative for carrying out otherwise labour-intensive tasks and providing information for data-driven decision-making.
Tech and AI are best used for effectively cutting out the noise and finding the true meaning and definition in the data.
Financial institutions are under enormous pressure. The level of regulatory compliance is so extensive that we believe it is only realistically achievable with AI technology and products, such as the solutions we have developed at smartKYC.
CTG: How did you feel when you heard that your entry had won?
HC: We were honoured to receive this award from Computing. We had been especially proud of our False Hit Filtering solution for its proven advanced use of AI to attain enormous time saving and dependable precision, so to have it recognised by such a prestigious award was very gratifying.
CTG: What do you think made your entry stand out?
HC: Our submission was detailed, focused, and most importantly, proven. Our False Hit Filtering solution has shown its time saving capabilities and precision for our clients. As a consequence of our solutions, our clients have changed the way their businesses operate in a positive way. We think that this, along with the abilities of the technology itself, made our entry stand out.
CTG: What does the win mean for you, your team, and smartKYC as a whole? How will it help you?
HC: This award spurs us on to remain an industry leader in the sector and to continue developing our products and to find new ways to use AI to match the needs of our clients.
CTG: What does the future hold for smartKYC - what are the priorities for the next 12 months?
HC: At smartKYC, we are passionate about providing real-time, ground truth data for our clients and are looking forward to developing our systems even further.
Our priorities over the next 12 months are to keep developing our products, especially in terms of Natural Language Processing, to ensure risk is searchable in any foreign jurisdiction or frontier market. Our other areas of focus include Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risk screening, as organisations scrutinise their supply chains and environmental risk.
We are aiming to maintain our position as the world's most advanced enterprise solution for KYC due diligence automation whilst we continue to advance our technology to drive faster, better and more cost-effective KYC at every stage of the relationship.
The Technology Product Awards will return later this year - keep an eye on Computing to find out more.
