In order to spot potential acts of wrong-doing, compliance officers have had to do more than simply listen to tapes of telephone calls and monitor electronic communications - as rogue traders nowadays know better than to be that open about their intentions. Instead, the banks and other institutions are analysing different forms of data to spot odd patterns. Suspicions could be alerted if, for instance, if a trader sends a lower volume of messages than would be expected. 

Holy grail

A lawyer at a US bank said:'The holy grail is marrying up the communication surveillance with trading surveillance.' Source: Financial Times