Michael Meadon
Our latest risk intelligence report for APAC, based on a global research survey, takes a detailed look at the on-the-ground challenges that financial institutions are facing in the region and unpacks the perceived high value of trusted, real-time data.
- Financial institutions across APAC are grappling with mounting fraud and regulatory pressures – making trusted, real-time risk intelligence more critical than ever.
- Insights from 250 regional risk and compliance leaders reveal widespread screening delays, high false positives and a strong demand for real-time data to drive faster, more accurate compliance decisions.
The insights from 250 risk and compliance leaders in Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia reveals screening-related delays and inefficiencies and finds that the vast majority of respondents believe that real-time access to sanctions and risk data is vital to their compliance workflows
Our report highlights that fraud and financial crime continue to surge across the globe – and that time and resource constraints leave many financial institutions struggling to stay on the right side of an evolving regulatory curve.
Exploring the core challenges in APAC
In APAC, financial institutions report screening delays and high levels of false positives. Our report reveals that 80% of respondents across the region experience screening-related delays “at least occasionally”, but this percentage rises to 90% in both Japan and Hong Kong.
The most widely reported pain points when screening for sanctions, politically exposed persons (PEPs) and adverse media, in APAC are high false positives (76%), manual review and remediation workload (74%), and integration issues with existing systems (74%).
When asked how confident they are in the accuracy and completeness of their current sanctions and risk screening data, 44% in APAC report that they are “very confident”. This compares to 45% in EMEA and 53% in North America.
Real-time data – the true value-add?
A significant 97% of APAC respondents consider real-time data important to their compliance workflows.
Across all markets surveyed, real-time data access also emerges as the most important factor when considering a customer screening tool – and this sentiment is reflected in APAC.
The reported benefits of real-time data are substantial, with APAC respondents saying it helps them avoid outdated data (54%), supports real-time compliance decisions (53%) and allows them to monitor risk continuously (48%).
Turning to barriers to adoption, the most widely reported hurdle is that budget or resource constraints make real-time tools unfeasible, reported by 52% of respondents in the region.
The role of AI
While the essential role of real-time data in efficient screening is clear, respondents also highly value automation and AI integration with 23% of respondents in APAC saying that compliance workflow automation and AI integration could improve the effectiveness of their risk screening processes.
It is also worth noting that, across all regions surveyed, the sentiment that AI should enhance, not replace human judgement is evident. In APAC, there is also a strong emphasis on AI as a valuable support for training.
Using AI technology with a combination of real data sources can save time, providing ongoing training to staff.
An APAC respondent
Our report highlights that, by selecting the right risk intelligence partner, institutions across the region can ensure access to the right combination of real-time data, technology and trusted human insights – a combination that will leave them best-placed to move the dial on surging financial crime.
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