Australian company Greater Bank and analytics and AI firm SAS have joined forces to deliver a new fraud detection and anti-money laundering solution that strengthens the protection of its more than 270,000 customers.
The companies say financial fraud and crime threats have accelerated and are increasing globally due to the pandemic. As a result, banks are increasing their investments in fraud detection and prevention technology to keep customers safe, maintain trust and ensure they meet regulatory standards.
A new 2022 Anti-Fraud Technology Benchmarking Report survey from SAS and the global industry association, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), shows that 60% of companies worldwide expect anti-fraud technology budgets to grow over the next two years.
Greater Bank says SAS’s robust anti-fraud and anti-money laundering capabilities are strategic components in its digital transformation, which has been evolving over the past three years.
It says forming strategic partnerships has been fundamental to strengthening and simplifying IT operations, radically changing customer experiences, and ultimately remaining a key challenge for larger banking competitors.
Greater Bank says partnering with SAS to provide a new fraud and AML platform has been critical in ensuring efficiency and compliance within the regulatory banking function. It says Greater Bank was looking for a Hosted Managed Service after engaging third-party advisors and exploring the market for on-premises and cloud solutions.
The company selected SAS to implement and run its fraud and AML technology, hosted on SAS’s preferred cloud platform, Microsoft Azure. It says this will transform the bank’s cybercrime toolkit into a world-class offering delivering immediate benefits to staff and customer experience.
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Greater Bank Group, Greg Nyman, says digital transformation comes in many forms.
“It’s big and expansive for us at Greater Bank – there are countless streams of activity and several exciting changes taking place,” he says.
“In that new bank, SAS drives fraud and AML solutions supporting our business. This is, by definition, a business solution. There is no distinction between different channels or aspects of our bank. We have entered into this relationship with SAS, selecting the partner we thought could support us with a package for our organizational needs.”
Upon implementation, Greater Bank’s multiple domestically developed, disparate IT systems will be transformed to meet organizational fraud and AML requirements. Despite several systems built over time, SAS equips the bank to reduce manual intervention significantly and, in turn, improve the user experience for both employees and customers.
“In our quest to become a more agile, agile organization, SAS helps us simplify our IT operations by eliminating the need to manage our own on-premises infrastructure,” said Nyman.
“Not only does this align with our cloud journey and strategy, but it will also allow us to invest more time in creating a safe, secure, and reliable environment for our customers, ultimately allowing us to focus on growth, building on a really solid foundation of established trust.”
“SAS’s AML and fraud solution is built on ease of use, real-time data insights, and automation, enabling us to act faster than ever to remediate potential threats.”
SAS Financial Services Director for A/NZ Neil Vasey says the company has seen increasing reports of fraud and evolving money laundering threats over the past 12 months.
“It’s a trend that, unfortu, expects to slow down. It’s now critical for banks to have intelligent data and analytics systems that mitigate the threat and provide an agile, fast solution,” he says.
“Greater Bank is ahead with its new AML and fraud solution.”
