Geopolitical Concerns Up The RegTech Ante

A growing number of anti-money laundering professionals think the current geopolitical environment creates new risks and challenges to preventing financial fraud at their companies.

In a survey conducted by SWIFT and Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, the two found that 75 percent of survey respondents are concerned about new risks and challenges due to what is going on around the world.

What’s more, to address the risks more than half of survey respondents — or 54 percent — said they are planning to increase their investment in RegTech in the next three to five years, as the majority — 59 percent — say technology has improved their company’s ability to tackle AML, KYC and sanctions requirements.

“The shifting geopolitical environment has created an additional layer of complexity for tackling financial crime around the world. As the political and economic landscape continues to impact international trade, data protection and tax cooperation, the need for greater transparency and more effective information sharing across borders is more important than ever,” said Joel Lange, managing director of Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, in a press release highlighting the results of the survey.

The annual survey — comprised of responses from more than 500 compliance and anti-money laundering professionals around the world — takes a pulse of the current regulatory environment and the impact of new regulation on international and regional banks’ compliance departments.

As financial crime risks continue to evolve, 69 percent of respondents said increased regulatory expectations represent the greatest challenge, followed by concerns surrounding increased enforcement of current regulations and the need to understand regulation outside their home jurisdiction.

“Technology can play a key role in providing new and enhanced capabilities that strike a balance between preventing criminal activity, meeting regulatory requirements and containing costs,” said Paul Taylor, director of Compliance Services, SWIFT, in the same press release. “The most sophisticated financial crime compliance solutions help mitigate risks and boost efficiency in several ways, from managing workloads to automating payments monitoring and reducing false positives, enabling compliance teams to focus on more strategic risk policy and financial crime prevention work.”