On October 3, Fort Voordorp near Utrecht hosted the fourth edition of the AML event, which has grown into an annual gathering of professionals in the field of AML, KYC, fraud and fintech crime. The fact that all these people from across the chain - both private and public - are in attendance shows how relevant this event is. "A room full of financial crimefighters," as someone rightly remarked.
This edition focused, among other things, on the current state of the fight against money laundering. Collaboration, artificial intelligence (AI), data, trust, courage, talent and quality were some of the key words and concepts regularly expressed by speakers, panelists and attendees.
The program, which consisted of an interesting lineup, was opened by moderator Irene Rompa, who expertly chatted up the various sections. Philippe Vollot (Managing Board Member & Chief Financial Economic Crime at Rabobank) had the honor of kicking off with his keynote, in which he made the case for better collaboration, exchange of information, communication with customers and using the right talent by generating sufficient budget.
Vollot insisted that you have to fight with the board for enough money to reward your people so that they can do their work well, and as he said, "Get the budget." According to him, the quality of work needs to be improved, and in this regard, assessment of work is essential, while not necessarily difficult. "It's not rocket science."
The importance that Vollot places on the level of work was also reflected in the Q&A, in which, when asked what he wanted to achieve during his tenure, he stated that he wanted to finish his work with "moving to business as usual with the right people," emphasizing one additional word: "quality, quality!"
This was followed by the banking panel, which looked ahead to the (near) future of the AML landscape, particularly with respect to AMLA, AMLR and Article 75. The panelists agreed that AMLA will play a major role in the fight against money laundering: "AMLA will take us to the next level," was one of the statements. Another important statement was that of: "quality over quantity."
After the coffee break, it was time for the first "Ask Me Anything" session, in which the risks and opportunities of generative AI within the world of AI were discussed by Steffie Schwillens (Head of Financial Crime Supervision at DNB) and Johannes Lont (Senior Manager Financial Crime at Zanders).
Among other things, Schwillens explained that DNB also uses AI in relation to AML and that people need to be properly trained to apply AI correctly. That you should not be afraid to make a mistake in doing so was logical, according to her. To use her words, "Start experimenting and show guts."
The second session then covered developments around screening and monotoring within AML. Robert van Haersma Buma (Lead Business Development Payments at Rabobank) and Krik Gunning (Co-founder and CEO of Fourthline) explained that trust is the most important asset. In addition, the importance of data was reiterated, with Gunning finally offering a useful and general tip: "Use data not only for the industry, but for society as a whole."
Next it was the turn of Marnix Enthoven (Senior Inspector System Supervision at the Personal Data Authority), who gave insight into privacy and data sharing within AML in his speech. He did make it clear right away that AP always assumes innocence. "Most customers are not 'criminals,'" Van Enthoven said.
The final 'Ask Me Anything' session by Annee Spijkervet (VP of Financial Services & Tech at Lepaya) focused on 'upskilling' the AML professional. She especially emphasized the importance of "soft skills," such as communication and giving feedback. She too saw the constant change and evolution in the role of AML professionals due to AI and other rapid developments. "Practice your skills and be ready to apply them," she concluded her talk.
The finale of the day was one from a very different angle. Jonathan Gilbert (Financial Crime Consultant & Lecturer in Law, University of the West of England) came to talk about his slide into the world of fraud. He honestly told his story of how, as a lawyer, he slowly became more and more embroiled in shady dealings. It began fairly innocently with "turning a blind eye" to "becoming a bad fraud," Gilbert said.
Eventually, he was engaged in something that completely absorbed him and gave him the so-called "Jekyll and Hyde effect," or in other words, a professional alter-ego. What he found worst of all was what he qualified as "collateral damage." By this he meant the emotional and psychological damage to his family and colleagues. In addition, it had a great impact on the legal profession in England.
Gilbert was eventually caught and convicted. In prison, a time of self-reflection, he then completed a PhD. Gilbert was released early and is now a lecturer at the University of the West of England.
As the last speaker of the day, he managed to captivate the massed audience with the story he told in typical English fashion with a mix of seriousness and humor ("Being a white-collar criminal, you don't have to be afraid the police will bang on your door, but will politely knock"). At least it seemed to go over well with most attendees. The moral of the story may therefore be clear: "Given the opportunity, in this case just don't do it!"
Afterwards, of course, there was plenty of networking and talking afterward while enjoying a delicious lunch, an opportunity that was taken full advantage of.
