You've probably seen the disturbing images in the news—people appearing like zombies, ravaged by the ruthless grip of the deadly drug, Fentanyl. In this gripping episode, we take a deep dive into the hidden realm where digital wealth meets addiction, destruction, and death. With the help of our special guest Scott Chipolina , Financial Times journalist, we unravel the intricate and devastating links between cryptocurrencies, Chinese suppliers, and the wave of fentanyl-related fatalities sweeping...
Jun 05, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 56
Dive into the complexities of Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) in this insightful episode. Join us with our guest, Bruce Viney , the Director of Financial Crime Compliance Training at CCL Academy , as we explore TBML's intricacies, how criminals manipulate trade, and the challenges financial institutions and regulated companies face. Get ready for an information-packed discussion covering topics such as: Defining Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) and exploring its unique methods Identifying...
May 22, 2023•30 min•Season 2Ep. 55
In this week's episode, we speak with Patrick Skjennum, CTO of Strise , to delve deep into the fascinating world of Generative AI and its potential impact on the fight against financial crime. We uncover how Generative AI can revolutionize the financial industry, from combating financial crime to providing exceptional customer service. Patrick provides real-life examples of how companies are currently utilizing Generative AI in the financial sector, preparing you for the future of finance compli...
May 02, 2023•19 min•Season 2Ep. 54
In this episode, we're diving into the murky world of shipping and its challenges for banks. With little oversight and a global reach, the maritime industry presents complex problems for banks navigating regulatory compliance. Our expert guests, Tom Cardamone and Michael Byrne , CEOs of Global Financial Integrity and the Institute of International Banking Law & Practice, respectively, take us through the increasing pressures on banks to combat sanctions and combat financial crime compliance ...
Apr 24, 2023•52 min•Season 2Ep. 53
Welcome to a special episode where we're thrilled to announce a very famous guest, ChatGPT! In this thought-provoking discussion, we delve into the complex and intriguing roles played by Artificial Intelligence (AI) as both an adversary to money launderers and an ally in the fight against financial crime. All responses come directly from the AI itself, providing unique insights into its nuanced roles within this critical domain. Join our host, Fredrik Riiser , and ChatGPT as they tackle the chal...
Apr 18, 2023•30 min•Season 2Ep. 52
Get ready to uncover the secrets of one of the world's most notorious hacking groups - The Lazarus Group. In this episode, we chat with investigative journalist Geoff White and explore the inner workings of this elite North Korean group. Join us as we delve into their past and present operations, including their staggering theft of billions of dollars through cyberattacks, targeting everything from cryptocurrency businesses to major corporations like Sony Pictures Entertainment. Geoff will revea...
Mar 28, 2023•33 min•Season 2Ep. 51
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...
Mar 21, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 50
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, y...
Mar 14, 2023•32 min•Season 2Ep. 49
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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...
Mar 06, 2023•17 min•Season 2Ep. 48
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'...
Feb 20, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 47
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 eno...
Feb 13, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 46
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 sampl...
Feb 06, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 45
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 registra...
Jan 31, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 44
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 i...
Jan 23, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 43
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 w...
Dec 19, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 42
(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 ge...
Dec 05, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 41
The financial frontline of Russia's war in Ukraine runs through the offices of overworked sanctions officers at banks and financial institutes everywhere. It's the bank's job to freeze the accounts and assets of sanctioned individuals, and the pressure is colossal. If you get it wrong or act too slowly, the impact on a bank's brand and bottom line will be felt for years to come. So how is one of the largest Scandinavian banks keeping up with the ever-evolving sanctions measurements? We invited A...
Nov 28, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 40
This week's special guest is Swedbank's former Chief Compliance Officer Viveka Strangert , also known through media as the "whistleblower" in the massive money laundering scandal. Swedbank was fined 4 billion SEK (€389.8m) in 2020 by Sweden's financial watchdog for severe deficiencies in its AML processes and for withholding information from authorities investigating its role in the scandal, which also implicated Denmark's Danske Bank. Was these scandals a result of a cultural problem? We will t...
Nov 21, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Billions are invested in KYC, but only 1% of money laundering is stopped. So why is that? This week we have AML expert Louise Brown from Financial Compliance Group ( FCG ) in the studio to discuss this question and the following exciting topics: – The extensive and recent money laundering scandal in Sweden , where 34 out of 43 exchange offices were linked to direct criminal activities, and it emerged that one single foreign exchange office in Stockholm had laundered millions in drug money and tr...
Nov 14, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Now the popular crypto exchange FTX is bust, and crypto is plummeting. What happens next? We've invited the biggest crypto sceptic of them all to The Laundry, and according to him, the future for crypto does not look very bright. Liron Shapira, the self-proclaimed "Michael Burry of crypto" and the angel investor who turned a $10,000 investment in Coinbase into a $6 million profit, explains why he now thinks crypto is a big scam. Tune in to this week's crypto special in The Laundry! Hosted on Aca...
Nov 10, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 37
(Episode in 🇬🇧) In today's episode, we go through Magnus' report on corporate transaction monitoring. We also include tips on what banks can do to uncover money laundering! In addition, we are introducing our new segment, "This Week in AML". Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 26, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Denne uken har vi besøk av leder i enheten for finansiell etterretning (EFE) i Økokrim, Sven Arild Damslora. Jobben til teamet hans er å ta i mot rapporter fra rapporteringspliktige og bearbeide disse, for å så dele informasjonen med politi, tilsynsmyndigheter, og utenlandske tjenester. (Episode in 🇳🇴) Sammen med Sven Arild ser vi blant annet på disse temaene. Hvordan Økokrim mener en god MT-melding på en bedriftkunde bør se ut. Hvordan man kan vurdere transaksjonsvarsler opp i mot trendene in...
Oct 18, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Cybercrime and financial crime are moving closer and closer together. A growing number of cyber-attacks are believed to be the work of organised crime and combine cyber techniques, fraud and money laundering. Despite this, most banks and financial services institutions continue to treat cybercrime and cybersecurity as one activity and AML, fraud and loss prevention as another. As a result, each team will have its personnel, tools, and operating procedures. In some cases, teams are located in sep...
Oct 11, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Banks and financial institutions at the forefront are moving into the next frontier of AML. They focus on four primary areas, which we look more closely at in this week's episode. What are those four areas? 1: Synergies with other risk types. How Fraud, AML, and Cyber can benefit from each other and leverage the fact that these divisions utilize the same data and can feed each other with information. 2: Operational excellence How banks can capture "gold-standard KYC" in the frontline to deliver ...
Oct 03, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 33
4.5 billion dollars from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, also known as 1MDB, was diverted to enrich the fund’s directors and even the former Malaysian Prime Minister himself, Najib Razak. Xavier André Justo, a former employee in Petro Saudi; a company receiving funds from 1MDB, is todays guest. A reporter reached out to him some years after his involvement, and it turned out Xavier had critical pieces of information that could lead to the downfall of the corruption within 1MDB. In this epis...
Sep 28, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 32
How can Compliance Officers deliver more human-centric programs? Traditional compliance programs often do not think about behavioral drivers. Instead, traditional approaches think about how we would like people to behave rather than how they are likely to behave. That's the theory behind Human Risk, a London-based compliance firm run by this week's guest, Christian Hunt. Christian has over 25 years of experience in financial services. And he brings a unique perspective to the compliance field, h...
Sep 19, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 31
The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a unique 20-character, alpha-numeric code that contains information about an entity's ownership structure and thus answers the questions of 'who is who' and 'who owns whom.' The LEI has broad potential in use cases but also creates business value in two ways: first, it reduces transactional and operational friction in identifying transaction counterparties. Second, it provides essential information about a legal entity's background. In this week's episode, we...
Sep 12, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Crypto-native companies have lacked a stable and secure banking foundation to run their businesses without fear of being shut down by their banking partner. Or even being approved to open a corporate bank account, to begin with. New players have entered the marketplace to close this gap by providing compliant payment services to crypto businesses and crypto services to banks. One super exciting company is Denmark-based Januar. And in this week's episode, we chatted with Januar’s Chief Risk &...
Sep 06, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Før Fipo-sjef, Nicklas Lundh går over i sin nye rolle som leder for strategisk etterretning i SEB har han tatt seg tid til en prat med oss. I denne interessante sesongpremieren snakker vi om samspillet mellom mennesker og maskiner i analysearbeidet, fordelene og utfordringene med mer informasjonsdeling mellom finansinstitusjonene, auto-lukking av transaksjoner, effekten av et felles system for innrapportering av saker i GoAML, trender, og mye mer. I tillegg ser vi på hvordan kriminelle bruker fo...
Aug 30, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 28
For the final episode of season 1 of The Laundry, we invited investigative reporter, Dan McCrum to speak about his work on the Wirecard-story. This is a story about the wild rise and crushing fall of the tech giant Wirecard that was exposed as a billion dollar accounting fraud. The story raises big questions about corporate fraud, money laundering and the need for strong financial regulations. This episode is a roller coaster of events and stories and if you enjoyed it, we really recommend getti...
Jul 04, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 27
