A lesson in financial crime and the compliance laws designed for modern financial institutions sounds like a slow day in history class. However, you may be surprised to know that the origins of customer identification legislation began with a variety of dangerous crimes like mob activity, drug trafficking, and even terrorism. International KYC policies are […]
Every year, at least €16 billion in fraud and drug money is laundered in The Netherlands. “10 percent of all bank staff are only involved in money laundering and fraud,” says Koen Juffermans, fraud and cybercrime expert at BusinessForensics.
Financial crime has been around since the invention of currency. Some would argue its origins begin even further back in history, with the advent of trade. If true, we can imagine the first instances of fraud involved trading wormy fruits, soured wine, or sick livestock. During those times, any exchange that knowingly defrauded the other […]
Out of the 22 predicate crimes that the European Union’s sixth anti-money laundering directive describes, human trafficking is the most prevalent. 25% of banks already reported and investigated financial crime linked to human trafficking. Yet, 61% of financial service professionals find spotting signs of human trafficking hard. Imagine how many cases of human trafficking have […]
Go from situational awareness to actionable intelligence. It is a cruel, yet rewarding world for those of us working in compliance – at least that is what we tell ourselves. We take great pride in the efforts we make in the battle against financial economic crime. Even still, the pressure rises every day, while much […]
We’re just a short couple of weeks away from the sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD) coming into effect on December 3rd, 2020. This directive will expand current anti-money laundering legislation’s scope, clarify regulatory details, and make criminal penalties more severe. So, here comes another change project, right? You have a little over six months left […]
It’s the year 1959. A man and woman walk into a bank. He’s looking very dapper in his suit and tie. He looks around and pulls his fedora a bit further over his eyes. She, a pretty woman with blonde curls pulled back into a neat knot, her vibrant red lipstick in sharp contrast with her white dress. A banker welcomes them and escorts them to their vault. “Ring the bell when you’re done, and I’ll come to pick you up,” he tells them. The banker will never know what’s in that vault. “Look at it,” Vera whispered as she took the diamond out of her bra. “It’s perfect.” “You can’t keep it,” Ben responded. “But once we sell it, I’ll buy you another diamond ring.” Vera sighed and handed the diamond over to Ben who stored it in their vault. They rang the bell and were escorted out of the vault by the banker. Later that day, Robert left the bank to go home. “Extra extra, read all about it!” Robert looked at the newspaper boy. His heart started racing when his eyes hit the front page of the newspaper. He bought a newspaper from the boy and stared at it. “Diamond heist leaves four people and a baby dead,” it read in fat letters. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Beneath the headline was a picture of a […]
They sat in a dark truck. Nakia gazed over the thirteen other women, finally fixating her eyes at the guard who held a machine gun in his hand. Her heart was racing. She knew what was about to happen. The women sat quietly. Scared of their faith. They must have been driving for ages: their military truck and five other army vehicles. But the men that had captured them weren’t soldiers. They were human traffickers. Nakia knew that they were supposed to be sold as sex slaves. But unlike the other women, she wasn’t afraid. She was waiting… All of […]
Prevent fines and reduce workload by applying an alert shaping process. Rising Expectations Regulatory fines in the financial industry spark an action-reaction process. A financial institution – most commonly banks – receive a fine for not upholding regulatory compliance, then suddenly financial institutions everywhere raise the budget for their compliance department, or at least begin […]
Another day, another Deutsche bank scandal. Given Deutsche Bank’s questionable reputation, it’s almost too easy of a subject. However, this is a critical case. It’s an example of the pressure compliance officers sometimes have to face, when it comes to choosing between doing what’s right and conforming to groupthink. Let’s look at the facts. In […]