The one job in banking the robots can’t take

The wave of scandals, such as at Deutsche Bank, is undermining confidence in the industry well beyond the individual institutions involved. — Bloomberg

When HSBC Holdings Plc thwarted a US$500mil (RM2bil) central-bank heist, sophisticated computer software didn’t raise the alarm. The funds flowed undetected from Angola’s reserves to a dormant company’s account in London. It was a teller at a suburban bank branch who became suspicious, declined a request to transfer US$2mil (RM8.3mil), and triggered a review that uncovered the scam, according to one account of the episode.

That was two years ago, and the finance industry’s battle to stop the illicit transfer of as much as US$2tril (RM8.3tril) a year around the globe hasn’t become any easier. At least a half-dozen lenders in Europe have found themselves at the center of fresh allegations of dirty money schemes in the past year. The wave of scandals – at Denmark’s Danske Bank A/S, Deutsche Bank AG, and others – is undermining confidence in the industry well beyond the individual institutions involved.