Profiling under conditions of ambiguity: an application in the financial services industry

Profiles inform decision making and impact both on the individual being profiled and the organisation acting on the information. When there is no universal empirical support for the profile, decisions are made under conditions of ambiguity. This paper analyses the decision-making process for reporting money laundering suspicions using a framework that highlights the role of technical, formal and informal sub-system elements. We conclude that, in the absence of certainty regarding technical, economic and legal parameters, informal factors play a key role in determining whether systems are adopted and how much is spent.