As globalization creates new opportunities for legitimate business, potential risks emanating from technological advances also rise. These advances have been known to enable criminals effect the instantaneous transfer of funds across the globe with the touch of a button. Money launderers in this case have taken advantage of the laxity by some banks which have no efficient ICT infrastructure in terms of security.
Against this background, banks have been advised to ensure that their institutions step up verification of the identity of the customer by using the Customer Due Diligence (CDD). They should also know their customers well and their policies to prevent hackers in accessing their financial system at the initial placement stage of money laundering. The CDD will help in establishing business relations and undertaking occasional transactions.

Addressing a recent anti-money laundering workshop in Nairobi, John Wanyela,  Executive Director, Kenya Bankers Association said unlike other jurisdictions in the region, Kenya possesses the advantage of an established national identity system that is fairly secure.

“Combined with the recent developments of credit information sharing space, we are working towards assisting financial institutions with the process of verifying customers’ identity”, said Wanyela.

He said financial institutions should set internal minimum standards for monitoring suspicious transactions and urged them to be careful when implementing technological systems for that.

“Financial institutions should seek technological solutions that ensure timely access to reliable and accurate customers’ transaction data, effective transactions monitoring of customer specific activity and comparison of the activity to expected norms for each customers type”, said Wanyela.