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A Fresh Lens on FinCrime Operations: 2025 Industry Trends

Published Date

At the launch of Fenergo’s 2025 Financial Crime Industry Trends Report, a panel of experts from PwC, TMF Group, and Fenergo came together to share their perspectives on how firms can tackle mounting compliance costs, improve rising client abandonment rates, and utilize AI to transform financial crime operations. 

Moderated by Oonagh van den Berg, CEO and Founder of RAW Compliance AI, the session combined new insights from the report with first-hand opinions and experiences from industry leaders: 

  • Aoife Doyle, VP of Product, Fenergo 
  • Ellen Stiene, Market Head of North America and the Caribbean, TMF Group 
  • Adrienne Lerro, Partner, PwC 

The Growing Cost of Slow Onboarding 

This year’s report revealed that 70% of financial institutions lost clients due to slow onboarding processes. This represents an increase from 63% in 2024 and translates into an estimated $2.72 billion in lost revenue annually.  

For Ellen Stiene, the issue was clear: “Time kills deals. Through cumbersome Know Your Customer (KYC) processes and slow responsiveness, firms are losing opportunities.” 

Adrienne Lerro echoed this point, highlighting the operational inefficiencies driving client frustration:  

“In compliance and onboarding processes, we’re still seeing five to seven handoffs, investigators using 10 plus systems, and onboarding timelines stretching from 60 to 150 days. That creates a poor customer experience.” 

Compliance Spend Is Rising, But Are FIs Spending in the Right Places? 

Despite increasing investment in financial crime operations, abandonment rates continue to climb. Aoife Doyle suggested that the issue lies in where firms focus their spend:  

“You can spend more on people, you can spend more on siloed technology, but until you bring technology and people into a unified process, you’re not fixing the root cause.” 

The panel agreed that many institutions add extra steps to satisfy regulatory findings rather than rethinking the process holistically. As Oonagh van den Berg noted:  

“If a wall is cracked and you plaster over it, another crack will appear. The problem isn’t the wall -it’s the foundation. You need to go back and fix the process itself.” 

People, Processes, and the Role of Technology 

Ellen shared how TMF Group, operating across 90 countries, moved from a paper-heavy model to a unified global platform with Fenergo:  

“Rolling out Fenergo’s technology really brings our compliance function together globally. We are working as one compliance team instead of 90 fragmented ones. Now, it takes us 40% less time to onboard a client.” 

But the panel cautioned that technology alone isn’t enough. As Aoife put it: 

 “There’s no benefit in digitizing a poor process. Technology doesn’t outrun weak design, rather people and technology go hand in glove when you’re solving the compliance operations conundrum.” 

AI: From Hype to Practical Use Cases 

AI was a central theme of the discussion, with panelists highlighting the importance of focusing on practical applications: 

  • Document analysis and data extraction are ripe for AI 
  • AI tools can match submitted documents against system data, flagging discrepancies for investigators 
  • AI should be seen as part of a toolkit including human oversight  

Adrienne pointed to the opportunity: 

 “In some firms, it takes over 30 minutes just to pull down the documentation investigators need. In the world of AI, we should be well past that.” 

Oonagh elaborated on the scale of the AI opportunity in compliance operations:  

“We receive 1,400 data points at onboarding but use only 120. AI will help unlock that untapped information to better understand client behavior.” 

 Key Takeaways 

  • Client abandonment is rising - 70% of the financial institutions surveyed have lost clients due to onboarding delays 
  • Increased spending isn’t solving the problem - firms need unified processes, not only more people or tech. 
  • Try AI with targeted applications - document handling, data validation, and client communication are good places to start 
  • Mindset matters - compliance can be reframed as a competitive advantage which helps your business win and retain more clients.  

Conclusion 

Financial institutions face ever more demanding regulatory pressures coupled with more sophisticated financial crime methods. The cost and complexity challenges that firms face in their compliance processes build the case for AI, specifically agentic AI. The transformative potential of agentic AI will create a huge change in how financial institutions manage clients and regulatory compliance. In a rapidly changing regulatory environment, financial institutions that embrace the agentic AI wave can expect significant wins including robust compliance controls, competitive advantage, and a streamlined client experience. 

As Oonagh concluded:  

“We’re at one of the most exciting junctures in compliance. With new technology, fintech innovation, and AI, this is the time to rethink how we work.” 

Watch the Full Discussion 

If you missed the live event, or want to revisit key insights, the full session is now available on-demand. You’ll hear directly from Fenergo and industry experts, walking through real-world examples and exclusive insights into how financial institutions are balancing compliance, risk, and client experience in their financial crime operations.  

Watch the recording now