An enjoyable read by Jeremy Birch, Peter Jones and Kyle Wombolt from Herbert Smith Freehills looking at how big data and data analytics is impacting investigations and compliance.  The article takes a look at how predictive data analytics can be used to predict regulatory and compliance issues moving from detecting to predicting.

This is a very interesting topic and something that companies will need to get to grips with.  Banks and financial institutions are probably at an advantage here, as these technologies have been used within financial crime to tackle AML and sanctions risk.

Companies need to continue to assess how best to use data and technology to tackle these sort of risks - specifically looking at not just 'human' designed tests around known threats but also using machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify previously unidentified risk.

Data is a vital element to any investigation or compliance exercise, just as it is to the operations of any business. One of the most fundamental aspects of managing data is to ensure that it is fully embedded within the investigation/compliance team – it can not be run on the periphery without negatively impacting the effectiveness and efficiency of the process. It has to be a core element.