Canada’s financial intelligence agency aims to increase its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve its capabilities to analyze data and detect suspicious activity, according to an agency official.
Donna Achimov, deputy director of supervision at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), told Reuters in a report published Monday of the agency’s plans to leverage AI. Opportunity areas, she said, include scanning for suspicious transactions or improving paths to collaboration with financial institutions.
Achimov also serves as chief compliance officer at FINTRAC, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Government agencies across the globe have signaled their increasing use of new technologies like AI to stamp out misconduct. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission has used data analytics to bring cases regarding improper accounting and insider trading, while the Department of Justice has made clear its intentions to lean into data as part of its prosecution efforts.
The expectation among these agencies is that companies are also utilizing data analytics to monitor for wrongdoing—and ensuring their compliance teams have access and visibility into that data.
In December, FINTRAC announced penalties of approximately 7.5 million Canadian dollars (then-U.S. $5.5 million) and CAD$1.3 million (then-U.S. $950,000) against Royal Bank of Canada and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, respectively. Both financial institutions were cited for alleged deficiencies in their suspicious transaction reporting mechanisms.
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