The Laundry

Join us as we sit down with Jørgen Holmlund, who brings over 25 years of experience in intelligence, to discuss sanctions and intelligence work. 

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Penningtvättsdagarna – Sweden's largest event for AML/CFT professionals, taking place on May 3-4 in Stockholm. 

In this episode, we explore the ever-changing world of sanctions and look at Russia's recent steps to circumvent EU and US sanctions. 

We also delve into the current status of intelligence work, the most worrying trends Jørgen and the intelligence community see, and how to utilise technology to stay ahead of criminals.

Finally, we'll explore what recommendations Jørgen has for privately owned companies, banks and regulated companies.

Tune in now to hear this important conversation.

From this episode, you'll learn:

00:00 - 04:56 What is the main motive behind imposing sanctions, and what has been the effect?

04:56 - 07:57 What steps has Russia taken since 2014 to circumvent EU and US sanctions? 

07:57 - 11:36 Where have sanctions worked as intended, and why were they successful?

11:36 - 17:55 What are the current trends in intelligence work?

17:55 - 25:17 How do we utilise technology to help?

25:17 - 31:00 What are the most worrying trends the intelligence community sees?

31:00 - 38:52 How do we stay ahead of the next move of the criminals?

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In this episode, we'll take a closer look at the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), one of the biggest US bank runs in over a decade.

We'll examine how the bank's risk management may have been the leading cause of its downfall and get an exclusive perspective from Marcus Mølleskov, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at Januar and Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy at Sardine.ai. 

Tune in as we untangle the complexities of this case and find out what lessons can be learned.

From this episode, you'll learn.

00:00 - 08:01: What happened?

08:01 - 11:30: Why the SVB collapse is an outlier.

11:30 - 15:33: SVB had no official Chief Risk Officer for eight months. How has this potentially affected this?

15:33 - 26:13: How will other banks address risk management in the wake of the SVB collapse?

26:13 - 28:39: How will it affect the importance of KYC and customer due diligence for other financial institutions?

28:39 - 31:46: What can we expect of new government regulations after this?

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Last week we hosted, The Laundry Live - a live-streamed community event featuring subject-matter experts such as; Louise Brown, Graham Barrow, Gregory Dellas, and Christian Hunt.

Our speaker, Louise Brown, Director of Financial Crime Prevention at FCG, shared her insights on the AML trends in 2023 and beyond. Listen to this episode to hear her thoughts and get ahead of the curve.

We recommend you watch the entire YouTube event here.

Enjoy!

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Join us as we uncover the truth behind Britain's 'kleptocracy capital'.

Award-winning and investigative journalist Oliver Bullough joins this week's The Laundry episode to discuss how London has become a safe haven for the world's wealthiest people to hide their stolen money and spend it with no questions asked. 

Bullough explains how the problem originated and how the lack of regulation in the UK has enabled oligarchs, criminals and kleptocrats to use London's banks to launder their wealth. 

Don't miss this exciting episode about how London became the money laundering capital of the world.

From this episode, you'll learn:

00:00 - 09:11 What inspired Oliver to write the book, "Butler to the World"

09:11 - 15:32 How Britain became a world-class enabler of financial crime

15:32 - 21:32 Oliver takes you through the "Kleprocrat tour"

21:32 - 23:28 How Britain has turned Gibraltar into the "world's biggest online casino"

23:28 - 26:31 The register of overseas owners of UK properties

26:31 - 37:44 Why the current AML regulations don't work

37:44 - 42:06 The recent EU ruling on UBO registers is a complete disaster

42:06 - 45:06 The politicians are failing to address money laundering adequately

45:06 - 48:00 How do we clean up this mess?

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In this week's episode, we're deep-diving into FCG's "AML State of Play report", a comprehensive study of the AML practices of ten of Denmark's largest financial institutions. The report is based on anonymous interviews with senior executives from the ten banks.

Together with Kenneth Ullmann Eenholt, director at FCG Denmark, we explore the key findings from the report and the progress made since the money laundering scandals of recent years. Kenneth also shares his expert insight into the enormous investments in AML programs and why they're not yet paying off.

From this episode, you'll learn:

00:00 - 07:16: Take on the significance of money laundering on a global and Nordic level

07:16 - 09:48: Why the enormous AML investments aren't paying off

09:48 - 20:24: Advice to top management and operational teams

20:24 - 26:26: Recommendations for implementation of technologies

26:26 - 33:55: Uncertainty about roles and responsibilities within the organisation

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In 2022, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority in the UK) raised the possibility that criminals may take advantage of the speedy onboarding process of challenger banks (neobanks), mainly to create money mule networks.

Their report also noted that challenger banks advertise the ability to open accounts quickly, which may lead to insufficient information being gathered on higher-risk customers during the account opening process.

Consequently, the FCA reviewed the financial crime controls of a sample of challenger banks that compete with traditional retail banks.

In this episode, we will, together with one of the leading experts in the field, James Nurse from Fintrail, a specialist consultant firm in the financial crime space, explore the risks associated with challenger banks and how traditional retail banks are faring in comparison.

We'll also look at the financial crime controls amongst the challenger banks to better understand the situation.

From this episode, you'll learn:

01:39 - 02:42: What led to the need for a review of challenger banks' financial crime practices?

02:42 - 05:25: Critical weaknesses identified by FCA

05:25 - 06:58: How challenger banks can adapt customer risk assessment & EDD for the heightened risk of sanctions evasion

06:58 - 08:55: How challenger banks & traditional banks differ in legislation they must comply with

08:55 - 09:57: What guidance is available to challenger banks to help meet AML/CTF obligations

09:57 - 11:24: What technologies are available to help

11:24 - 12:43: James' top tips

12:43 - 14:12: Why a compelling financial crime change program is crucial

14:12 - 15:27: What challenger banks should expect from the FCA in terms of monitoring their compliance with the AML regulations in 2023

15:27 - 16:49: What risk controls are the challenger banks usually good at—and maybe even better at compared to the traditional banks?

16:49 - 19:44: How you can balance the need for robust KYC with a seamless customer experience

19:44 - 21:15: How the KYC process for challenger banks differ from traditional banks

21:15 - 24:22: Why "Effectiveness" continue to be a big 2023 compliance trend

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Guess where the business name 'Adolf Tooth-Fairy Hitler' is registered?

Registering a business at Companies House, the official business registry in the UK is an easy, quick, and affordable process. However, strange business owner names like 'Adolf Tooth-Fairy Hitler' appear in the organisation's database, suggesting that limited checks are being conducted and reveal a system vulnerable to criminal manipulation.

In this episode, we will be exploring the vulnerability of the UK's company registration system to criminal manipulation.

We have Graham Barrow, co-host of "The Dark Money Files" podcast and a long-standing expert in the anti-money laundering world. He will help us look into the groups of criminals behind this issue, the countries affected, and the measures being taken to address the vulnerabilities of the Companies House system. We will also discuss digital reforms to the Companies House, the EU's new UBO ruling, and the craziest company names registered with Companies House.

From this episode, you'll learn:

02:22 - What kind of criminal manipulation is Companies House vulnerable to?

03:19 - How are UK-registered companies been misused in money-laundering scandals?

04:50 - What groups of criminals are behind this?

06:13 - Why should Nordic AML and compliance officers care about what's going on in CH?

08:29 - Are there any examples of this affecting Nordic banks?

12:38 - What are the worst examples Graham has seen?

17:23 - Do UK banks know this and accept a Companies House registration as good validation?

18:54 - What measures are being taken to address the vulnerabilities of the Companies House system?

20:48 - What are some of the most misused addresses/streets in the UK on Company House?

24:29 - What is Risk Alert 247?

28:10 - What are some of the compliance trends for 2023 from a UK perspective?

Tune in to find out more!

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As Head of Risk and Compliance at Vipps MobilePay, one of Europe's largest fintech companies, Silke Øverby knows that compliance is more than just a cost centre.

Join us to learn how compliance functions can help improve customer satisfaction, boost customer loyalty, and reduce the chances of litigation - all while driving business growth.

From this exciting episode, you'll learn:

• Strategies implemented to turn compliance into a driving force for growth (1:54 - 6:18)
• Balancing AML/KYC process in a fast-scaling business (6:18 - 8:46)
• Challenges faced in managing AML/KYC processes (8:46 - 11:14)  
• Important KPIs for compliance departments (11:14 - 12:10)  
• Biggest successes of Vipps MobilePay's risk & compliance team (12:10 - 13:37)  
• Ensuring the compliance team remains agile (13:37 - 15:49)  
• Changes to the compliance function & improvement to the Vipps MobilePay experience (16:00 - 17:13) 
• Merging two compliance departments (17:13 - 19:50) 
• Tone from the Top (19:50 - 21:27)
• Bringing compliance closer to the business function (21:27 - 23:29)
• The compliance bottlenecks, challenges, and opportunities in 2023 (23:29 - 30:30)
• Automating processes and decisions (30:30 - 32:54)
• Some great tips and tricks from Silke (32:54 - 36:13)

Tune in and enjoy!

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The EU's new Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) ruling has been making headlines all over Europe. At first glance, it appears to be a major win for those who think public UBO registers infringe on the right to privacy. But is it instead a gigantic Christmas gift to the criminals?

In this episode, we explore the pros and cons of the new UBO ruling with Thom Townsend, Executive Director at OpenOwnership and look at how it could affect the fight against financial crime.

Join us as we investigate whether the new UBO ruling is a blessing or a curse.

From this episode, you'll learn:

01:32 - 04:59 What is this recent ruling from the Court Justice of the European Union?

04:50 - 06:06 An excellent example of why ending public access to UBO registers is a bad idea.

06:07 - 10:40 Do the EU put privacy over AML?

10:53 - 14:21 Are there any examples of documented harm due to the open UBO registers? 

14:22 - 17:30 What were the key takeaways from the CSABOT (Civil Society Advancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency) conference in Brussels last week?

17:31 - 20:17 Why the EU now has a massive responsibility for clarifying and defining the new ruling.

20:32 - 24:28 Will AML6 overrule this?

24:30 - 28:36 Why the banks and the public industry must step up now.

28:39 - 33:08 Many countries are keeping their UBO registers open. Will governments put their national laws above the EU ruling?

33:10 - 37:58 Which countries have the most effective implementation of ownership transparency right now?

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(Episode in 🇳🇴) Finanstilsynet publiserte nylig et oppdatert rundskriv til hvitvaskingsloven som gir uttrykk for Finanstilsynets tolkning og forvaltningspraksis knyttet til hvitvaskingsloven. Det nye rundskrivet gjelder for alle rapporteringspliktige etter hvitvaskingsregelverket.

Sammen med Julie Odden som er leder for kompetanseheving innen økonomisk kriminalitet i PWC går vi igjennom veilederen og ser på de viktigste endringene.

Fra denne episoden vil du lære mer om:

01:40 - 02:12 Julies generelle tanker om det nye rundskrivet.

02:31 - 07:19 Hvordan går en regulert bedrift frem for å operasjonalisere stegene ved risikovurdering?

07:21 - 08:48 Risikovurderingen skal baseres på en holistisk vurdering der egne erfaringer er inkludert. Hvilke eksempler på erfaringer bør inkluderes her?

08:49 - 10:50 Rapporteringspliktige må revidere sine prosesser når det publiseres relevante risikovurderinger fra organisasjoner og myndigheter. Hvordan kan bedrifter sikre at denne typen endringer fanges opp?

10:51 - 13:26 Tilsynet ønsker at arbeidsprosesser skal beskrives. Hvordan bør denne dokumenteringen av rutineverket se ut?

13:27 - 14:55 Hva er kombinasjonsrisiko og hvordan kan regulerte bedrifter sikre at de operer i tråd med Finanstilsynets forventinger?

14:56 - 19:13 Hvordan tolker Julie de nye anbefalingene for hvordan ulike riskoklasser skal behandles ulikt?

19:14 - 25:05 Den oppdaterte veilederen har også noen endringer for kundetiltak. Hva innebærer disse endringene?

25:06 - 27:16 Hvilke problemstillinger rundt helautomatisert onboarding bør regulerte bedrifter nå ta en ekstra vurdering rundt?

27:17 - 30:13 Julie sine key takeaways fra det nye rundskrivet.

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