Moody’s Talks: KYC Decoded

In this episode, KYC Decoded welcomes Derek Vadala, Chief Risk Officer at BitSight, who shares his insights on the intricacies of cyber risk, technology risk, and digital risk with host Alex Pillow. They explore the evolving nature of cyber threats, from financially motivated attacks to nation-state espionage, and discuss best practices for mitigating these risks through in depth defense strategies and ongoing monitoring. Derek emphasizes the criticality of a risk-based approach to supply chain due diligence and the importance of integrating cyber risk management into broader compliance frameworks.

Key takeaways:

• Cyber risk encompasses adversarial activities, technology issues, and digital transformation challenges, each requiring distinct mitigation strategies
• Financially motivated cyber criminals and nation-state actors use different tactics but can blur lines, necessitating vigilant, multifaceted defenses
• Effective cyber defense relies on automation and layered security measures, beyond just user education
• Integrating cyber risk management with overall compliance and due diligence processes enhances organizational resilience

To learn more about cyber related risk, please check out the resources below:

• Risky business podcast
• Cyber Security Headlines podcast

To learn how you can mitigate cyber-related risk in your organization, visit our website  and feel free to get in touch - we would love to hear from you.

This episode introduces the Data and Technology for Compliance (DT4C) Alliance, an industry group comprising leading data and technology companies focused on enhancing financial crime prevention in the EU. Host Alex Pillow, along with Ted Datta from Moody's, and Gem Conn from Dow Jones Risk and Compliance, discuss the Alliance's goals, key initiatives, and the impact they have had so far, including the inclusion of high-quality data standards in AML regulations.

They explore how the alliance works in practice, the balance between data privacy and AML effectiveness, and the broader implications for risk and compliance professionals. For more information or to get involved, listeners are encouraged to visit the DT4C website www.dt4calliance.eu, email the [email protected] or reach out to the contributors on LinkedIn.

As digital assets continue to evolve and enrich investment portfolios, they simultaneously demand innovative anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance strategies to counteract potential exploitation by bad actors. There is a critical need for financial service firms to adapt to these changes, understanding the money laundering risks tied to crypto.  

In this episode of KYC Decoded, we are joined by Liat Shetret, Director of Global Policy and Regulation at Elliptic, and Karmjeet Singh, Product Strategist at Moody’s, who together unravel the pivotal role of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) in navigating and addressing these emerging challenges in the digital economy. Key topics of their conversation include: 

• The rapid evolution and developments of the VASP and cryptocurrency ecosystem in recent years 
• The sophistication and complexities of criminal activity in the digital world 
• Strategies to effectively manage the challenges posed by VASP 
• How compliance officers balance dual roles of safeguarding against risk while facilitating organizational growth 
• Predictions on future crypto market trends and their implications for risk and compliance professionals 

For additional resources: 

• Read Elliptic’s blog
• Sign up for Elliptic’s newsletter
• Listen to KYC Decoded’s Crypto Miniseries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

To learn more about our VASP screening for your organization, please feel free to reach out – we would love to hear from you! 

Some of the most crucial actors in the world of regulatory compliance exist within the public sector. But, with so many private sector players gathering data and making risk-based decisions, how can the two groups bridge any divides to overcome increasingly sophisticated criminals?

In this episode of KYC Decoded, host Alex Pillow is joined by public sector colleagues Linda Hamilton, Deputy Director of Organised Crime in Fraud Investigations Service at the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and Kevin Newe, Illicit Finances Threat Lead from HMRC. Their engaging conversation provides unique perspectives on questions like:

• Why is there a need to invest more in preventing economic crime and money laundering?
• How can we strike a balance between a public-private sector feedback loop and preserving confidentiality?
• What do good public-private partnerships look like and are there opportunities for improvement?
• When combatting financial crime, where should the public sector take the lead and where the private sector?
• How should data and technology vendors be involved with their private sector partners and the public sector?
• What makes a good SAR and what can be said about software that automates writing them?

To learn more about what was discussed in this episode, be sure to check out these additional resources:

• UK Financial Intelligence Unit
• Financial Action Task Force risk trends and methodologies
• FATF Annual Report 2020-2021
• National Economic Crime Centre

And, if you’d like to see how Moody’s Compliance and third-party risk management can help you with AML, please visit our website or get in touch; we’d love to hear from you.

As regulatory stakes grow higher, so does the need for reliable, comprehensive data when evaluating risk. Enter: the Moody’s Entity Verification API. In a single source, this powerful tool layers curated data on over 525 million global companies along with real-time entity information from primary sources. Here to share more on the making of this tool and its value in a compliance program are Johanna Konrad, Moody’s Compliance & third-party risk Managing Director of Product Management, and Jon Hanmer, Moody’s Sales Senior Director. Joining host, Alex Pillow, they discussed:

• How direct customer feedback shaped what the Entity Verification API delivers
• How the solution benefits stakeholders in different sectors
• Why strong entity verification lays the groundwork for a “golden record,” and why that matters
• Enablement of practitioners to monitor entities in a perpetual KYC (pKYC) program

For more information about the Moody’s Entity Verification API, visit our website. If you’d like to book a demo or learn more, please get in touch; we would love to hear from you!

The term “Entity Verification” can mean different things to different people. Perhaps it brings to mind beneficial ownership, identity checks, or third-party risk management. Regardless, Entity Verification is the bedrock for understanding who you are doing business with.

We are pleased to welcome back guest, Paul Nola, Partner at Context Consulting, for this episode of Moody’s Talks: KYC Decoded. Paul walks us through the findings of Moody’s latest study on Entity Verification. In addition to sharing how the study was conducted and some of the results of the report, Paul and host, Alex Pillow, discuss common themes that emerged, such as:

• Why the time is now to be ramping up Entity Verification programs
• Challenges that can make Entity Verification difficult to implement
• The downstream benefits of a strong Entity Verification foundation
• The need for proper and robust data governance
• How AI is being used to make Entity Verification scale in a quick, reliable way
• The elusive ‘golden record’ - a single view of a data entity

You can find more information about Entity Verification on our website, or check out the resource below:
 

• Who are you doing business with? A Moody’s study into Entity Verification

If you would like to learn more about Moody’s Entity Verification data offerings, please get in touch – we would love to hear from you.

You may recognize him as Moody’s Talks: KYC Decoded editor and producer, but, Mark Rundle, has a passion for storytelling that extends beyond podcasting. Mark is also a brilliant documentary filmmaker, and we are excited to have him join us behind the microphone in this week’s episode, discussing his recent three-part documentary series, The Infinite Game. These 10-minute episodes provide a searing view into the world of corruption, money laundering, and, most importantly, the people who are affected by these crimes. 

Follow along for a behind-the-scenes look at:

• The inspiration for making this series
• The creative process for structuring a compelling narrative
• What he hopes viewers will take away from The Infinite Game

Be sure to watch the series, or watch again if you have already seen it on our website or YouTube. And, to take another step forward, learn how Moody’s can better equip you and your organization to combat financial crime. Get in touch – we would love to hear from you.

The art and science of screening in the KYC and AML world has certainly come a long way from the days of manually checking for names and organizations against a short list. Risk factors have evolved exponentially, increasing regulations have influenced risk appetites, and powerful technologies like Machine Learning (ML) and Generative AI (GenAI) have caught on like wildfire. 

In this episode of KYC Decoded, in-house experts Mike Xu, Data Strategy Director, and Victor Cotillon, Risk & Screening Product Strategist, provide valuable insights into the role of Machine Learning when screening. Highlights of their conversation with host, Alex Pillow, include:

• What screening means and why it is performed by KYC and AML practitioners
• The concept of ‘fuzzy matching’
• How technologies help weed out false positives when name matching
• Pros and cons of integrating ML into an intelligent screening process
• Keep human’s in the loop when using more sophisticated ML

Interested in learning more? Check out the resources below mentioned in this episode:

• Coursera
• Moody’s AI in Compliance resources

If you want to learn more about intelligent risk and compliance screening for your organization, please visit our website and feel free to reach out – we would love to hear from you!

Anti-financial crime (AFC) departments can get labeled as the team that says “no” - seen as preventing innovation from reaching customers. But, this line of thinking overlooks the immense value AFC teams can bring in the product development process. How can AML and compliance professionals break through the stereotype to become more influential partners in business growth?

In this episode of KYC Decoded, AML professional Erika Postel, passionately shares her expertise when it comes to thriving at the intersection of business expansion, compliance, and customer experience. Her conversation with host, Alex Pillow, addresses questions such as:

• When should AML and compliance teams brought into a project?
• How to juggle multiple jurisdictions and/or multiple product launches simultaneously?
• How can teams proactively work with regulatory bodies?
• How can AML departments best support business expansion with ever increasing digitization?

For more information, please check out the resources that were mentioned in the episode below:

• ACAMS website
• American Bankers Association

To take the next step in transforming the compliance culture in your organization, visit our website and get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.

Fancy cars. Diamond-covered watches. Luxury vacations at 5-star resorts. These are some of the many high-ticket purchases money launderers might illegally make to disguise the origins of their wealth.

So, what actions can be taken to fight this nefarious activity? How can businesses and consumers avoid complicity and prevent financial crime in the luxury goods' space?

We are thrilled to welcome back esteemed guest and expert, Jessica Cath, Head of Financial Crime at Thistle Initiatives. Her dynamic and engaging conversation with host, Alex Pillow, dives into questions like:

• What constitutes a luxury good?
• What are the three stages of money laundering?
• What role do secondary markets play in luxury goods' money laundering?
• What risk-based measures can businesses take to protect their reputations and meet regulatory obligations?
• How can individual consumers make more responsible purchasing decisions to avoid unintentionally abetting financial criminal?

If you are keen to learn more about luxury goods and AML, we encourage you to check out these additional resources:

• It’s the luxuries that give it away. To fight corruption, follow the goods by Dr. Reza Tajaddini and Dr. Hassan F. Gholipour
• Bribery and Corruption: An Unholy Cocktail of Outsider and Insider Threats | Royal United Services Institute (rusi.org)
• Art market participants guidance for money laundering supervision - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Money laundering supervision for high value dealers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• Understanding the Art Market and Anti-Money Laundering Regulations | Royal United Services Institute (rusi.org)

And, if you can’t get enough of Jessica, listen to the last KYC Decoded episode she joined us for - pKYC Miniseries: Part 3.

To take your anti-money laundering practices a step further, please feel free to get in touch with the Moody's team – we’d love to hear from you.