$2.5 Billion in Recent Fines — Are You Next? Why Compliance Leaders Need Real-Time AI Communication Monitoring

Since 2021, regulators have slapped major banks with staggering fines — $2.5 billion and counting — for violations related to employee communication. This huge amount raises a critical question: Are your company’s communication channels safe from costly mistakes? With the rise of digital tools and remote work, compliance teams face a growing challenge: keeping employee communication in check. AI solutions can help you stay ahead of potential disasters.

The Growing Challenge of Communication Compliance

Whether it’s sending a rogue email, using chat platforms improperly, or tampering with documents, the risks are everywhere. And the consequences of missing something critical? A massive fine, a tarnished reputation, or worse.

The Big Risks in Employee Communication You Can’t Ignore

What exactly should you be looking for? Here are a few examples of risky communication behaviors that can get companies in hot water:

• Insider threats: Employees discussing non-public information with family, friends, or competitors.

• Discriminatory language and nonfinancial misconduct: Racist, sexist, and ageist remarks, workplace discrimination, sexual harassment and other harmful language that can lead to legal claims, class-action lawsuits, multi-million dollar fines, decreased productivity and turnover. 

• Off-channel communication: Work-related discussions in personal or encrypted messaging apps or other unapproved and/or unregulated platforms — fast and convenient for communicating, a violation of books and record-keeping laws that leaves regulators in the dark.

• Document tampering: Altering documents that are or could be the subject of future litigation, aka spoliation. See: the recent federal antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission to block the Albertsons-Kroger merger, where suspicions about the deletion of key text messages among grocery executives further jeopardized the consolidation bid. 

New Technology, Fewer Lapses

Some organizations are using AI to transcribe employee phone calls and analyze sentiment to pinpoint compliance issues, while others leverage it to review training records for compliance or to scrutinize banking transactions for signs of fraud or money laundering. At HarmCheck, we use a combination of machine learning and human oversight to create proprietary AI that identifies language indicative of a wide array of harmful behavior. Our system flags issues in real-time, not simply after the fact, to actively prevent minor issues from escalating into significant concerns. 

Why Real-Time Monitoring Is a Must

By investing in AI-powered communication monitoring, compliance leaders are taking a proactive approach to safeguarding both the company’s reputation and its bottom line. Real-time tools do more than help you catch problems early — they provide peace of mind, knowing you’ve got a strong line of defense against communication-related compliance violations.

Amanda Nurse is the editorial and operations coordinator at Alphy.

HarmCheck by Alphy is an AI communication compliance solution that detects and flags language that is harmful, unlawful, and unethical in digital communication. Alphy was founded to reduce the risk of litigation from harmful and discriminatory communication while helping employees communicate more effectively. For more information: www.harmcheck.ai