FinCrime Spotlight

What can we take away about the reality and lifestyle of those involved in organised crime, from its portrayal in fiction? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Tony to explore all of this, and more, based on the Netflix American crime drama TV series ‘Ozark'.  Tony Brown is the Head of Compliance & MLRO at IFX Payments, a Global FinTech that issues digital IBANS to clients requiring treasury management and payments solutions. At IFX he is responsible for advising the group on risk and works closely with the C-Suite to deliver on strategic goals in a sustainable and innovative way.  Tony has 15+ years experience working in financial services, most of which has been spent in regulatory compliance roles and he has a passion for anti-money laundering.

What can we realise about the wider social context of why financial crime takes place, and the personal circumstances one may be in to be forced into criminality? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Matthew to explore all of this, and more, based on the American crime drama television series ‘Breaking Bad'.  Matthew Redhead is a researcher and writer on national security and financial crime, and has published several papers on the future of AML/CTF as an Associate Fellow at RUSI. He is also a regular contributor to Jane's Intelligence Review on serious organised crime, financial crime, terrorism and intelligence. He previously worked in a variety of risk-focused roles in banking, the UK civil service and management consultancy.

From a TV show, what can we learn about how organisations launder funds and evade detection, the bureaucracy and corruption that can be faced along the way, and the negative impact the War on Drugs has had on all its participants? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Meredith to explore all of this, and more, based on the American crime TV series ‘The Wire'.  Meredith is a Financial Crime Compliance Senior Manager - Strategy & Advisory at ClearBank. Meredith is an experienced financial crime compliance professional who specialises in designing, enhancing and conducting oversight on AML/CTF and sanctions systems and control frameworks. At ClearBank, Meredith works within the 2LOD to provide advisory on the implementation of anti-financial crime controls and to help drive control evolution to support the bank's strategic initiatives. Prior to her role at ClearBank, Meredith worked at FINTRAIL as an anti-financial crime consultant, where she led and supported on client engagements across the FinTech, virtual asset, banking and investment sectors, helping firms to build, scale and modernise their financial crime risk management programmes. 

What can we learn about the picture film paints of cryptocurrency and its involvement in money laundering? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Gregory to explore all of this, and more, based on the 2019 American crime drama thriller film ‘Crypto'. Gregory Dellas is the Chief Compliance and Innovation Officer at ECOMMBX. Previously, at the Bank of Cyprus, Gregory served as Director Wealth & Markets and spearheaded the AML Risk Management team within International Banking Services, responsible for high-risk clients and transactions and for providing guidance and specialized training to management and staff. Before that he was Group MLRO for Cyprus Popular Bank, and held a number of other senior management positions.  Gregory is the founder and Chair of the ACAMS Cyprus Chapter, since 2015. He holds several international professional certifications including CGSS, CAMS (Advanced) - Risk and CAMS (Advanced) – Audit. He is a certified CAMS instructor and GCI accredited trainer, a Fellow of ICA (FICA) and a long-standing member of the AMLP Forum and IGCA. He also holds an MBA from Lancaster University in the UK and a BSC (Hons) Industrial economics from the University of Warwick.

What can we understand about the actions and greed associated to powerful and wealthy people caught up in crime and corruption, from a real life story interpreted to film? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Matthew to explore all of this, and more, based on the American crime film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street' and true story of stockbroker Jordan Belfort. Matt is the current Head of Financial Crime Risk at Tide Platform Limited. Tide provides banking services for SMEs and has a current member base of 350,000+ members. Prior to Tide, Matt managed Santander's Financial Crime Apprenticeship programme, focusing on developing future leaders within the world of Financial Crime. Matt has also held roles at multiple other international organisations such as Barclays and Amazon. Matt has a passion for building Financial Crime teams in a new and innovative way by training them in a way that allows them to engage both the technical and creative parts of their brains to meet the ever changing regulatory environment.

What can we discover about the impact the ‘80s Colombian cocaine trade had on society, from the portrayal of real life events in a TV show? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Hanna to explore all of this, and more, based on the TV series ‘Narcos' and true story of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.  Hanna is a regulatory strategist that has worked for a wide range of financial institutions from big banks to early stage startups. Hanna has advised early stage fintechs on go to market strategies. Hanna is currently the Head of Compliance for Wealthsimple Cash and has supported the launch of new products in areas such as Wealthsimple's challenger bank and P2P payments offering and Canada's first and only securities regulated crypto trading platform. Hanna also is a Board Member at Open Banking Initiative Canada.

What can we realise about the violence associated with organised crime and drug traffickers in London today, from its portrayal on TV? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Koos to explore all of this, and more, based on the 2020 British action–crime drama TV series ‘Gangs of London'.  Koos Couvée is Senior Reporter, Europe at ACAMS moneylaundering.com. He has been with moneylaundering.com since October 2017 and is responsible for covering the ways in which criminals launder funds and otherwise abuse the financial system, as well as the development of laws, regulations and compliance procedures designed to clamp down on illicit finance. Prior to joining ACAMS, Koos worked as a news journalist at various regional and national newspapers based in London.

What can we understand about corruption, competition, power and wealth that drives the energy industry, from its depiction in a film? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Tamara to explore all of this, and more, based on the 2005 American geopolitical thriller film ‘Syriana'.  Tamara is currently the Managing Director at Veracity Worldwide. For nearly 25 years, Tamara has worked in investigations and intelligence. She has primarily focused on working with companies operating in challenging markets, where issues are complex and often politically exposed. A seasoned intelligence operator, Tamara knows where to look for information across jurisdictions, and how to use knowledge gained to design strategies employed in asset tracing, reputation management, commercial disputes, controversies and crises. She is also called on by clients to support strategic decision making related to emerging and frontier markets. Tamara was ranked as a Notable Practitioner in Chambers & Partners Litigation Support Guide (2020).

What can we learn about why people get tempted into bad choices through their own life narratives and the incentives and circumstances they are exposed to, from its portrayal in film? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Niels to explore all of this, and more, based on the 1993 American legal thriller 'The Firm'.  Niels Pedersen is the author of Financial Technology: Case Studies in Fintech Innovation. He is a Chartered Accountant and Senior Lecturer on Manchester Metropolitan University's MSc Financial Technology degree. Before entering academia, he worked at PwC and the Prudential Regulation Authority. In addition to his university teaching, Niels conducts corporate training seminars on technology-related topics. His thoughts have been featured in Newsweek, the Financial Times, and on BBC Radio Scotland. 

What can we discover about the evolving networks of international organised crime and human trafficking from its representation in a TV drama? Quite a lot, it seems!  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Charlotte to explore all of this, and more, based on the BBC TV series adaptation of Misha Glenny's book ‘McMafia'. Charlotte is currently the Anti-Money Laundering lead at Copenhagen based FinTech Pleo, focused on streamlining the future of business spending. With a background in both consultancy and at major banks, her experience in FinCrime varies from large-scale US mafia investigations to white collar crimes. She is passionate about good compliance built into slick tech and collaborative approaches to fighting the good fight.

What can we learn about responses to terrorist financing from its portrayal on TV? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Tom to explore all of this, and more, based on Amazon Prime's Jack Ryan series. Tom is the Director of Royal United Services Institute's (RUSI) Centre for Financial Crime & Security Studies (CFCS), which he founded in 2014 having left 20 years in investment banking. RUSI is a defence and security think-tank based in London. His journey from banking to the think-tank world came via a Masters at King's College London in 2012, where his research focused on the effectiveness of the global response to terrorist financing.

What can we takeaway from this true story of a privileged, well educated women caught up in money laundering? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Elizabeth to explore all of this, and more, based on the TV series and story of Piper Kerman: ‘Orange is the New Black'. Elizabeth Bramlage is Chief Marketing Officer at ComplyAdvantage. Elizabeth has over 16 years of payments and technology experience. Prior to ComplyAdvantage, Elizabeth launched marketing in the U.S. for Klarna and worked for over 8 years in marketing and account management for American Express. Elizabeth began her career launching home product categories for Amazon. Elizabeth is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of Michigan.

What can we learn about employee fraud and amateur criminals involved in money laundering from its interpretation in a late 90s American comedy film? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Micah to explore all of this, and more, based on the film ‘Office Space'.  Micah Willbrand is VP of product for AML services at Jumio. Willbrand brings extensive experience to Jumio as a strategic and operational leader for some of the industry's marquee brands, including Experian, NICE Actimize, RELX and GB Group, in anti-money laundering, risk management, identity and authentication solutions. Willbrand oversees the integration and expansion of the Beam Solutions AML platform acquisition as it is adopted by Jumio customers and channel partners.

What can we learn from insurance fraud and a pair of Panama City law partners exploiting the world's financial system in a Hollywood movie? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Jas to explore all of this, and more, based on the film ‘The Laundromat'.  Jas is the Head of Financial Crimes for Stripe's (US) and leads the company's AML and Sanctions programs.  Prior to Stripe, he managed PwC's Financial Crimes Fintech practice across the US West Coast. He has over 15 years of experience with building and managing programs in the Financial Crimes and Compliance space. Digital Identity / eKYC and using technology to solve financial crimes are areas he's passionate about. Jas is a regular speaker at industry events, a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and an executive committee member of the West Coast AML Forum (WCAML).

Why is a universal approach so crucial in anti-financial crime? What knowledge and expertise can BAME individuals bring to a compliance team? How can this knowledge and expertise help detect suspicious activity and prevent financial crime?  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Dev to explore his personal and professional journey, especially how it pertains to equality and diversity. Dev Odedra is an independent financial crime expert and also the founder of ‘The Laundry’, a financial crime news and media aggregator.  He has significant experience in managing financial crime risk in the retail, corporate and investment banking sectors, having worked at a number of global banks. His expertise covers investigations, advisory and controls implementation and improvement.

Why are there differences to how banks and FinTechs approach diversity? How can an anti-financial crime team of people from different cultures help with analysing customers' financial patterns? What can we do to support socio-economic changes? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Pravin to explore his personal and professional journey, especially how it pertains to equality and diversity. Pravin Chandrasekaran currently is serving as the BSA Officer of Varo Bank. Varo is on a mission to revolutionize Banking, and he has been presented with the unique opportunity to build an AML program from scratch. Prior to that, he ran Wells Fargo’s Monitoring and Surveillance Programs, including oversight for developing, implementing, and overseeing monitoring and surveillance programs, tools, and AI strategies. Previously he oversaw the Customer Risk Analytics Team which developed Wells Fargo’s Enterprise View of a Customer as well as its Enterprise Customer Risk Rating. In addition, Pravin is an Intelligence Officer in the United States Army Reserve. He has spent the last 16+ years developing effective, and efficient customer risk, Due Diligence, and monitoring programs leveraging AI tools and technologies to increase program efficiency and effectiveness rates. Pravin is based in San Francisco, California for Varo and has a Masters in Risk Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a Bachelor’s in Economics from St. Mary’s College in California.  

Why are there barriers for BAME individuals accessing financial services? How can FinTech companies with a racially diverse workforce, build inclusive products to serve more customer groups? What efforts have TransferWise made to understand the diversity issues in anti-financial crime? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Perpetua to explore her personal and professional journey, especially how it pertains to equality and diversity. Perpetua (Pesh) is the DMLRO at TransferWise as well as the Financial Crime Compliance Oversight Lead, responsible for the UK and EU markets. Pesh joined TransferWise in 2017 having spent her early financial Crime career in the banking, CFD/FX and gambling industries. Pesh graduated with a Masters in law from Coventry University and comes with a wealth of FinCrime experience gained through the management of Financial Crime in both small and listed companies. Pesh is a certified Anti-Money Laundering specialist (CAMS) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Why is there still a lack of BIPOC representation in the industry past senior management roles? How can we support BIPOC professionals to break through that ‘glass ceiling’? What can we do differently to shine a light on our unconscious biases?  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Stephen to explore his personal and professional journey, especially how it pertains to equality and diversity.  Stephen Brent Sargeant is an Anti-Money Laundering Investigator (AML) and Law Enforcement Liaison at industry leading cryptocurrency exchange, BITFINEX. He previously acquired AML experience working for international Bank, HSBC as an AML Investigations Manager. Passionate about helping others, Stephen has written articles and produced podcasts on social media platform, LinkedIn, for professionals in the Financial Crime Compliance field. He has also collaborated with many other industry leaders in creating events for Foreign Professionals and Women in Compliance. 

Why can BAME FinCrime professionals bring value to the role? What are the differences between overt bias, covert bias and unconscious bias? How can these biases and the ‘black tax’ have an impact on the BAME professional and how can they be reduced?  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Shilpa to explore her personal and professional journey, especially how it pertains to equality and diversity.  Shilpa is the AML Director, Europe Middle East and Africa for ACAMS, where she is responsible for the development of regional anti-financial crime content strategy and implementation across all channels. Shilpa also builds and manages the expanding multilingual faculty of leading subject matter experts and instructors who work with ACAMS on curriculum development, instruction, event programming and task forces.  Shilpa represents ACAMS by speaking at select major industry events and conferences, participating in think tanks and engaging proactively with policy makers, regulators and industry practitioners across the region.

Why is it important to have diverse teams in the fight against financial crime? What is the difference between ‘cultural add’ and ‘cultural fit’? How the FINTRAIL team are exploring diversity issues?  Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Payal to explore her personal and professional journey, especially how it pertains to equality and diversity. Payal combines her legal education and extensive compliance experience to build 'best-in-class' anti-financial crime programmes for clients and is focused on enabling innovative business whilst balancing risk and regulatory demands. She brings over 14 years of experience in financial services across multiple regions, focusing recently on FinTech and crypto. She has led engagements with regulators on new business models and has worked with a wide range of organisations globally on international best practices. Payal leads the FINTRAIL business in Asia.

Why should you embrace traumatic events and failures? How can creativity, discipline and intuition shape your professional journey? What advice would a CTO give to a young data scientist? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Jeff to explore his personal and professional journey. Jeff has most recently been with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York leading the Fed’s data science division and responsible for numerous artificial intelligence initiatives across the Fed. His start-up experience includes Strevus, Inc. where Jeff was Founder and CTO and Siperian, Inc where Jeff served as Chief Scientist. Jeff has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Illinois, and an undergraduate in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

Have you discovered your FinCrime niche? How understanding the everyday realities of the FinCrime professional will help improve of policy making? Why private and public partnerships will become even more crucial in the fight against financial crime? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Isabella to explore her personal and professional journey. Isabella sits in the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at RUSI. Her work focuses on the UK’s financial crime policy agenda and assesses its effectiveness in light of evolving threats. She is a member of the RUSI Task Force on the Future of UK Sanctions Policy. Before joining RUSI, she was the Financial Crime Writer at RegTech, ComplyAdvantage where she commented on global AML/CFT standards and their impact on regulated entities. Isabella holds a master’s degree with distinction in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London.

Why is it essential for compliance to be a core feature for all new products? How can FinCrime professionals utilise the art of storytelling? Adapting to new systems, teams and cultures; what does it mean to be a consultant? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with John to explore his personal and professional journey. John is the AML/BSA Officer at TransferWise, as well as the company’s Financial Crime Oversight Lead for North America. He joined TransferWise in 2019 from Navigant Consulting, where he was a Senior Consultant. Prior to Navigant, he held multiple roles in financial crime compliance at American Express. John is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and admitted to practice law in two states.

Why is it critical for a young analyst to be patient? How does the ‘hero complex’ manifest itself in startups that experience hyper growth? What are the differences in compliance cultures in the US, the UK and Ireland?   Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Kate to explore her personal and professional journey.   Kate Hotten built and now leads Stripe's financial crimes program across APAC, EMEA and LatAm. Prior to Stripe, Kate worked for Wells Fargo in the U.S. and U.K. with a focus on anti-bribery and corruption and correspondent banking portfolio risk. She has been recruited for projects in Angola, Jordan and Uganda sponsored by counter-terrorism grants and similar initiatives. Kate is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and received a Master of Science in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz.

Why facing your fears can become the gateway to new opportunities?  How personal branding can strengthen your network? What traditional financial institutions can learn from a digitally enabled approach? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Stephen to explore his personal and professional journey. Stephen Brent Sargeant is an Anti-Money Laundering Investigator (AML) and Law Enforcement Liaison at industry leading cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex. He previously acquired AML experience working for international Bank, HSBC as an AML Investigations Manager. Passionate about helping others, Stephen has written articles and produced podcasts on social media platform, LinkedIn, for professionals in the Financial Crime Compliance field. He has also collaborated with many other industry leaders in creating events for Foreign Professionals and Women in Compliance. 

How can you effectively operate as a compliance professional within a FinTech? Why being open and exploring change can create new and exciting opportunities? How being both a mentor and a mentee can help you reach your professional goals? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Marta to explore her personal and professional journey. With over 15 years' leadership experience in the financial services industry, Marta is an accomplished senior financial crime and compliance Director. She has held senior leadership positions in the banking and payment sectors in Portugal and the UK at Citigroup, HSBC, Worldpay, GoCardless, Novo Banco Bank and Caixa Geral de Depositos Bank. Marta is currently the Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer for ClearBank. She has spent her professional career shaping compliance and anti-financial crime frameworks both in global organisations and at Fintech companies. Marta is a tutor for ICA Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Crime Compliance. As a passionate mentor, Marta supports the next generation of talented young individuals to realise their potential.

Why are agile structures are so important for business and fighting financial crime? How do your own biases affect your objectivity? What FinTech myth is real? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Dinu to explore his personal and professional journey. Dinu Popa is the AML / Financial Crime Lead at MarketFinance. He has over 5 years of experience managing AML, FinCrime, and Fraud prevention in Corporate and FinTech. Prior to MarketFinance, Dinu worked for Santander in the UK Consumer Finance division. His international experience spans across leadership positions in the public sector in Romania as Director for International Relations at the Romanian Post, Minister's Advisor for European Affairs at the Ministry of Communications & Information Security and Director's Advisor for the Romanian VOSA.

Why is data and tech crucial in the fight against financial crime? How does mentoring enrich your personal growth? What is the connection between, drugs, financial crime and the music industry? Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Willem to explore his personal and professional journey. Willem Wellinghoff is the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for ShieldPay Limited, an online digital escrow solution for banks, law firms, corporates and consumers. Willem is primarily responsible for the legal and compliance affairs for the Group, including risk management, regulatory compliance with payment services regulation, anti-money laundering & terrorist financing obligations and also counts strategic growth and expansion to his responsibilities.

Why is your network important? How do you apply transferable skills in a FinTech environment? What links protests, doping and infatuated individuals? In this episode, Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Rebecca to explore her personal and professional journey. Rebecca is Vice President of Risk & Compliance at Tide, as well as being the business's Money Laundering Reporting Officer. She joined Tide in 2018 from financial crime consultancy, Fintrail, where she was an Associate. Prior to Fintrail, Becky held roles in the HSBC Financial Intelligence Unit and at Aegis Defence Services.

Coming soon..... Welcome to FinCrime Spotlight, the podcast that looks to shine a light on the FinTech community and their fight against financial crime. Don't forget to subscribe!