The system, developed by financial technology firm Tookitaki, checks customers and people connected to them against sanctions and other watchlists, even when names are spelled differently or recorded in another order.
“This collaboration provided Security Bank with a scalable screening platform that enhances screening coverage, improves the identification of genuine matches, and supports transparent, auditable decision-making,” said Daniel Ang, Security Bank's head of financial crime compliance.
The project won Best Technology Implementation by a Retail Bank at the Asian Technology Excellence Awards on Sept. 17, 2026, recognizing the lender's overhaul of a key safeguard against financial crime.
When names don't match
Traditional screening can miss a potential match when the same person's name appears differently across documents, a particular challenge in the Philippines where surnames, middle names and naming conventions vary.
Tookitaki's FinCense Screening uses AI to recognize those variations, check names against updated watchlists and flag possible matches for investigators, rather than relying on identical spelling alone.
The regulatory test ahead
Security Bank said the upgrade extended checks to all related contacts and significantly increased the number of genuine matches identified each month, although it did not disclose actual figures.
The improvements come as Philippine banks face scrutiny of their safeguards against money laundering following the country's removal from an international financial crime watchlist in February 2025, ahead of another evaluation scheduled to begin in 2027.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
