Stronger Together: The Power of Collaboration and Data Sharing

My AML career started way back in time (2001 actually), so there are people working in the financial crime-fighting community who weren’t born then. That’s a sobering (and slightly terrifying) thought. I think I’ve aged 10 years writing that first sentence.

My first AML role was to set up policies, procedures and day–to-day processes to comply with the forthcoming Proceeds of Crime Act. Ensuring that appropriate training was provided to all staff, and ensuring that they had a way to report their suspicions of money laundering easily and efficiently.

I was also then the person on the receiving end of these suspicious reports. Logging them dutifully in a spreadsheet and carrying out my ‘investigation’.

Without access to social media, adverse media screening tools, or the internet as we recognise it today. Without Google.

It was limited intelligence, to say the very least.

As the years passed, the technology improved, and so did the quality of my investigations.

However, as much as I love a good rummage around the dark corners of the web, the most important thing to have on my side, which has grown with me throughout my career, is my network. My network has been vital, not only for helping me to learn and giving me confidence in my capability but also for information sharing. 

The evolution of information sharing has been dramatic, and shows every sign of continuing to evolve, as fighting financial crime continues to try to keep pace with the bad actors. 

In the old days, I would call on my network with hypothetical scenarios to discuss. ‘Have you ever come across a case like this?’ was a common call, and within my network, there was always someone who could help. As we shared information, we got better at understanding criminal activity, and in turn, we became more and more effective in not only detecting but preventing financial crime.

We turned from waiting for the fraud to hit us and asking for help to proactive sharing of trends and emerging threats. Working collectively, our industry has become so much stronger against financial crime than ever could’ve been accomplished by individual firms, and it goes without saying that a key player in managing this evolution safely has been Cifas.

Collaboration and information sharing are some of the strongest protections we have in financial crime prevention. We already share data linked to fraud, such as names, contact details and account details. These details, linked to known frauds, may be shared by one firm, but that data may go on to protect countless more firms, and their customers, from financial crime. 

Firms need to leverage the provisions within the Economic Crime and Transparency Act and GDPR for sharing financial crime-related information. 

Data sharing has the potential not only to keep strengthening our perimeter to keep the bad actors out but imagine a future where we could also use information sharing between firms to help build trust. 

If we consider a suspected mule account transferring money to a new recipient, not only would it be valuable intelligence to know if that receiving account has been identified as suspicious, but equally useful to know if it’s a trusted account with no suspicious activity. Then imagine that this data was able to be shared in real-time, to facilitate payment processing. 

Enabling this type of enhanced data sharing could reduce the friction in genuine payment journeys at the same time as giving more certainty in identifying suspicious payments. 

Knowledge really is power.

Looking back, the journey from those early days of manual processes and limited intelligence to today’s sophisticated, real-time data-sharing capabilities has been transformative. Yet, at the heart of it all, one thing remains constant: the power of collaboration. Technology will continue to evolve, and the bad actors will adapt, but it's the human networks, the shared knowledge, and the collective resolve of the financial crime community that will keep us one step ahead. As we continue to leverage better tools and deeper data insights, our greatest asset will always be our commitment to working together, protecting not just our firms, but our entire financial ecosystem. The future of AML lies not just in catching the criminals, but in preventing the crime—and that’s a future I’m excited to be part of.

Claire Rees is a Financial Crime Regulatory Specialist in the UK for Jade ThirdEye, she has over 21 years’ experience working in Risk Management roles in financial services - 17 years of which were spent specialising in Financial Crime Prevention in a number of senior roles including most recently as Head of Fraud and AML with a mortgage lender and service provider. Claire has participated in many regulatory and industry Financial Crime panels, including a Government AML advisory panel and the Cifas Insider Threat Advisory Board which explored ever-changing insider fraud threats.

You can find out more about Jade ThirdEye a secure SaaS solution that’s purpose-built to automate transaction monitoring, customer screening and case management by visiting www.jadethirdeye.com.