Banks still rely on manual screening for financial crime checks

By Milan Rojan

Adverse media screening has remained heavily reliant on manual internet searches across global financial institutions, even as nearly all firms have recognised its importance in identifying financial crime and reputational risk.

Research from Ripjar FinTech, based on a survey of 400 senior decision-makers across the UK, US, France and Germany, has found that 93% of financial services leaders considered adverse media screening a critical part of risk management frameworks. However, only 77% were found to actively carry out such screening, while 58% still relied on manual internet searches as part of their processes.

The continued dependence on manual methods was found to be particularly pronounced in the UK, where 61% of banks were still using internet searches for adverse media checks. In the US, this figure rose further to 70%, highlighting uneven progress in automation and screening technology adoption across major financial markets.

More than a quarter of financial institutions were also found not to be operating continuous monitoring systems. This was identified as a key gap, given increasing regulatory expectations for ongoing surveillance of customer and transaction risk rather than periodic or point-in-time checks.

The research also identified a significant gap between artificial intelligence investment intentions and actual deployment. While 79% of institutions were found to be planning or investing in AI-driven compliance and screening tools, only 28% had fully deployed such systems. This created a 51% gap between ambition and operational implementation, suggesting that many firms are still in early stages of digital transformation in compliance functions.

Alongside this, demand for more integrated compliance infrastructure was found to be widespread. Around 96% of respondents indicated a preference for adverse media screening to be combined with sanctions screening, politically exposed persons (PEPs) checks and watchlist screening within a single unified platform. In addition, 90% of institutions were found to be planning increased investment in the next 12 months, signalling continued focus on strengthening financial crime controls.

The report also highlighted rising enforcement pressure on financial institutions globally. More than $69bn in anti-money laundering penalties had been issued worldwide since the 2007 financial crisis. In 2024 alone, fines against banks were found to have increased by 522% year-on-year to $3.65bn, reflecting stricter regulatory action and heightened scrutiny of compliance failures.

Matt Mills, Chief Executive Officer at Ripjar, said, “There’s a clear direction of travel in financial institutions when it comes to adverse media. With so many decision-makers viewing it as critical, adverse media screening is the first line of defence against crime and reputation risk. But what the research also reveals is that there are big differences across countries, and many are unprepared to run it in the way today’s market demands: systematically and at scale.”

The findings suggested that adverse media signals often exist well before enforcement action is taken, but institutions continue to face challenges in surfacing and acting on this information in a timely and consistent manner.

Overall, the research indicated that despite strong recognition of its importance, adverse media screening across global banking remained heavily dependent on manual processes, with uneven adoption of automation and continuous monitoring tools continuing to create operational gaps in financial crime detection.