Bank of Singapore has introduced an AI-powered tool, Source of Wealth Assistant (SOWA), to automate the creation of Source of Wealth (SoW) reports, significantly reducing the time required from 10 days to just one hour. This innovation aims to enhance the Know-Your-Customer due diligence process by ensuring the legitimacy of clients’ wealth and transactions whilst maintaining regulatory compliance.
Previously, relationship managers manually sifted through extensive documentation, including financial statements and tax notices, to compile these reports. SOWA now automates this process, generating comprehensive and standardised reports, thereby minimising human errors and inconsistencies. The tool leverages the extensive databases of Bank of Singapore and its parent company, OCBC, to validate client information against benchmarks like salary and company revenue.
Relationship managers still play a crucial role by reviewing and refining the AI-generated drafts before they undergo further assessment by internal review teams. This ensures that the bank’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls remain robust. The information processed by SOWA is securely hosted on the bank’s private cloud.
Kam Chin Wong, Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance at Bank of Singapore, highlighted the tool’s impact: “Agentic AI pushes the envelope further by enhancing efficiency, accuracy and consistency in decision-making.” Ruth Yeo, a relationship manager, noted the intuitive nature of SOWA, stating that it allows her to focus more on client engagement rather than manual documentation.
This deployment marks a significant step in Bank of Singapore’s ongoing investment in AI technologies, aiming to improve productivity and client service across its operations.
