As the effect of financial crime on businesses and society grows, more companies see the value of Regtech (Regulatory Technology) in their risk mitigation plans. The cost of failing to adopt Regtech to effectively handle financial crime risk management responsibilities pales in contrast. Regtech is a fraction of the cost of regulatory penalties for non-compliance. In addition to penalties, failure to protect against financial crime may result in data loss, financial loss, and reputational harm for organizations.
Despite companies' recognition of the significance of integrating technology within their financial crime risk management plans, take-up may still lag behind what is required to protect the company. According to PwC's Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2020, the cost of economic crime and fraud surpassed US$42 billion in the past 24 months.
The Destructive Effects of Financial Crimes
Financial crimes can have devastating effects on individuals, organizations, and entire economies. Some of the destructive effects of financial crimes include:
- Loss of Trust: Financial crimes erode public trust in financial institutions and regulatory bodies, making it difficult to maintain the stability of the financial system.
- Economic Damage: They can cause significant economic damage, such as market instability, decreased foreign investment, and reduced economic growth.
- Damage to Reputation: They can cause long-lasting damage to the reputation of individuals and organizations involved, leading to a loss of credibility and trust.
- Harm to Individuals: They can harm individuals, particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly, by depriving them of their savings and investments.
- Increased Crime: They can lead to an increase in other types of criminal activities, such as money laundering, fraud, and corruption.
- National Security Threats: They can also pose a threat to national security, particularly when they are linked to terrorist financing or organized crime.
Why are Regtech Companies Important in Preventing Financial Crimes?
Regtech companies play a crucial role in preventing financial crimes for several reasons:
- Automation of Compliance Processes: Regtech companies use technology to automate compliance processes, such as customer due diligence (CDD), risk assessments, and transaction monitoring, which helps financial institutions to detect suspicious activities and prevent financial crimes.
- Enhanced Risk Management: Regtech solutions provide advanced risk management tools that help financial institutions to identify and mitigate risks in real time, reducing the likelihood of financial crimes.
- Improved Regulatory Compliance: They help financial institutions to stay up-to-date with changing regulations and compliance requirements, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
- Greater Efficiency: They streamline compliance processes and reduce the administrative burden on financial institutions, enabling them to focus on core business activities.
- Access to Data Analytics: They leverage data analytics to provide financial institutions with insights into customer behavior and transaction patterns, enabling them to detect potential financial crimes before they occur.
- Collaboration with Regulators: Regtech companies work closely with regulators to ensure that financial institutions comply with regulations and combat financial crimes effectively.
Overall, Regtech companies are important in preventing financial crimes as they provide financial institutions with the tools and technology necessary to detect and prevent them while ensuring compliance with regulations and working closely with regulators.
How Can Regtech Help to Control Financial Crime Risk?
Increasing data quantities, more regulation, and reform regulator pressure mean that businesses of all sizes must consider RegTech for risk management and compliance. RegTech developments may help to improve compliance in areas as listed below:
- Regtech systems are completely trackable and auditable
- Possible to use pre-built risk assessment systems to set up their own AML policies
- Conduct enterprise risk analytics and controls testing
- Produce board-level reports
- Build and complete evaluations
Regulatory compliance isn't a one-time job. With reduced dependence on manual procedures, RegTech solutions enable organizations to evaluate risk more often as risk levels vary. Using this technology ensures that the risk variables being evaluated are up to date and that problems are identified and addressed quickly.
Many financial crimes' human aspect and societal effect are frequently concealed, which may foster a sense of responsibility when addressing these problems. RegTech adoption may help drive organizational cultural change by raising knowledge of funding terrorism and money laundering problems.
This involves understanding not just the regulatory consequences for the company but also the effect on the victims and society. Financial crimes supporting money laundering may fund human trafficking, enslavement, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
Effective anti-money laundering risk management includes:
- Analyzing national AML legislation
- Assessment of money laundering and terrorist funding risk
- Knowing your client collection and verification needs
- Introducing enterprise risk analytics
- Creating a comprehensive audit trail for AML risk management
- Notifications of AML regulatory changes
How will Regtech Companies Tackle Financial Crimes in the Future?
Regtech companies are expected to play an increasingly important role in tackling financial crimes in the future. Here are some ways in which Regtech companies are likely to address financial crimes in the future:
- Adoption of Advanced Technologies: Regtech companies will continue to adopt advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) to enhance their solutions' capabilities to detect and prevent financial crimes.
- Greater Use of Blockchain Technology: They will likely leverage blockchain technology to provide secure and immutable record-keeping solutions that can be used to combat money laundering and other financial crimes.
- Collaboration with Fintech Companies: They will collaborate with fintech companies to develop more integrated and sophisticated solutions that can detect financial crimes across multiple channels and platforms.
- Focus on Privacy and Security: They will continue to prioritize privacy and security to ensure that sensitive data is protected and secure and that the risk of data breaches and cyber-attacks is minimized.
- Increased Regulatory Scrutiny: They will likely face increased regulatory scrutiny as they become more integrated into financial institutions' operations. As such, Regtech companies will need to be vigilant and ensure that they comply with regulations to avoid penalties.
AML Compliance With Sanction Scanner
Sanction Scanner's AML programs help organizations manage regulatory compliance by identifying and reducing risks associated with financial crimes. Sanction Scanner's AML solutions leverage advanced technologies such as AI and ML to quickly and accurately identify suspicious activities and potential money laundering schemes. Key features include watchlist screening, transaction monitoring, risk assessment, and compliance reporting. These features enable organizations to comply with regulations, prevent financial crimes, and avoid associated penalties.
