Post by Tom V.

Financial crime conferences aren’t known for optimism. But at The Institute’s 2026 gathering in London, one theme kept emerging: for once, the launderers may be drawing the short straw. In a new article I have co‑authored with the stellar Ruth Paley, “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘕𝘢𝘪𝘭: 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 2026”, we look at how laws, data and tools that have technically existed for years are finally being used in ways that hurt criminals more than they hurt customers. We explore: ➡️ How ECCTA’s information sharing powers can turn isolated “castle” banks into a coordinated standing army, with pilots showing single warnings cascading into multi institution investigations, frozen funds and exited relationships. ➡️ Why “plausibility” and critical curiosity belong in everyday KYC, from sanity checking income projections and LinkedIn profiles to writing down answers instead of copy/pasting numbers into forms. ➡️ What serious high risk onboarding looks like in practice, including why enhanced due diligence can’t be fully outsourced to databases and why blunt, well framed questions to clients often unlock the most reliable intelligence. ➡️ How smarter use of Companies House and simple, free search techniques can uncover shell structures and hidden directorships that criminals hoped would stay buried in the advanced search tab. ➡️ Where AI is already transforming financial crime controls, and where “cognitive surrender” to confident sounding models becomes the new risk, plus the governance disciplines (human in the loop, audit trails, informed senior oversight) that keep the shiny hammer from bending the nail. ➡️Why wiring fraud and AML together, shared case management, joint typology forums, career paths that cross the silo, generates better intelligence for law enforcement than neat but isolated loss reports. If you work in AML, fraud, risk or supervision and want a practitioner level view of “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑦 𝐻𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑁𝑎𝑖𝑙: 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 2026”, you can read the full article for free here: https://lnkd.in/eSmBvmm7. Stephen Rae James Treacy CFCC Rob Cutler Ray Blake Mario Menz, PhD Aleksandra Jordanoska Dr Victoria Helen M. Nigel Kirby Leon Clifford Cyrille Salle de Chou Asli Arslan Tedeschi James Hann Steven Newton Iain Armstrong Gregory Brandman Steve Smith Alan Ward ​Chris Bromby​ Leanard Phillip Paul Laffan, CSCP Pallavi P Kapale DipAML Phale M. ​Claire Rees MICA DipFCP, DipAML​