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AMLA: The Race to Regulatory Harmonization

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The Fenergo FinTalks podcast is where we connect our listeners to the latest in RegTech, compliance, and anti-money laundering (AML) activity.

In this episode recorded at Money 20/20 EU, we’re talking about regulatory changes in the financial services industry, especially regarding AML efforts, and how fintechs are preparing for increased regulatory demands from the EU.

Our host, Dhanum Nursigadoo, is joined by special guest Patrick Green, Global Head of AML at Banking Circle. The two discuss some of the big issues the finance industry is facing such as data sharing, open communication between financial institutions, and the challenges of implementing new regulatory changes. 

“I think there is an acknowledgement that you have to be ahead of the game if you’re in any way going to mitigate the risks of what an industry can bring - whether you are a bank, a regulator, or a payments firm.” - Patrick Green, Global Head of AML at Banking Circle

Banking Circle is a Payments bank, providing global B2B banking services for payments businesses. It enables customers to access global cross-border payments, accounts, and liquidity management.

In this interview, Patrick shares how fintechs are currently preparing for the coming uptick in regulatory demands from the EU as AML efforts are ramping up and his take on post-Brexit regulatory harmonization in the race to become 'The Home of Regulation’.

Patrick and Dhanum also talk about how fintechs can make their AML controls strong enough for an ever-changing regulatory environment. They explore the need for and challenges of collaboration between different players in the financial industry to fight financial crime more effectively through open communication, data sharing, and harmonized regulation.

In this episode, they tackle areas, such as:

  • How collaboration and information exchange between financial institutions and key players is key to identifying typologies, trends, and financial crime risks early 
  • The challenges of implementing ideas like data sharing, due to issues of competition and regulation
  • The race to become the "home” of fintech and anti-financial crime regulation in Europe, as many countries compete to attract fintechs and implement strong regulation 
  • The impact of regulatory changes on the fintech industry
  • How changes in banking regulation helped to launch digital challenger banks, and how being proactive about regulation could revolutionize the industry

“It doesn't matter if it's fincrime or just general life- people tend to learn the most when they get hit the most. And whether that's a fine, or whether that's a regulator coming in saying ‘you're not going to onboard any more clients until you do this’... So: unless you do x, the y doesn't happen.” - Patrick Green, Global Head of AML at Banking Circle

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