Written by Phoebe Steel

Back in November last year, our consultant Phoebe visited #RISK in London, where she was able to get a real insight into the world of financial crime from the professionals who are battling with it on a daily basis.

The changing landscape of financial crime means that no day is the same, whilst our software improves to manage the risk of financial fraud, so do the methodologies money launders will use to implement high-security databases, or even just send out widespread emails to entice users to click on dodgy links. As companies strive forward with the systems they use to protect finances from hackers, unfortunately, the British public admittedly needs more education.

Every day, citizens still fall for phishing scams, believing that if they click on this link, they will win £1,000! The vulnerability of people is being exploited by scammers who do it purely for money and fundamentally do not care about the knock-on effect this will have for people who fall for these scams – devastating effects to people’s livelihoods can be at stake as all this allows if for the hackers to download malware onto the user’s device to spy on their activity or collect their private data.

These kinds of outcomes open the question which Jane Jee- CEO at Kompli-Global Limited discussed thoroughly during a panel session; will we constantly be looking for new methods of regulation? As innovation develops, does this mean there will always be a loophole for a hacker? Jane spoke about the gaps in regulation. When we invent new systems, we don’t look at the loopholes and issues enough. Jane advised that we need to carefully craft our AML regulation so that this doesn’t stifle innovation. But of course, what the UK does, doesn’t match the rest of the world. In the US, they have different jurisdictions across the breadth of the country – what matters in one state doesn’t matter in another. Will there ever be a uniform understanding of how to tackle and manage financial crime, or again, will we always be at risk of a loophole for a hacker to target us regardless?

It is difficult to accurately pinpoint the scale of the problem when it comes to financial crime, as it really can implement any means at any time. Even today, companies are still being created for the purpose of fraud and criminal purposes only. It is a scary reality that only diligent regulation can try to manage as best as possible. Regulation must constantly be adapted to ensure that they are one step ahead of the game, criminals will constantly find new ways to launder money, ultimately making it difficult for financial companies to detect and prevent these activities- making it imperative for reviews of regulations to be done on a regular basis.

“A battle if won, it would be transformational.”