Themis Podcasts

With Interpol estimating that deforestation contributes 6-17% of global carbon emissions, it will be impossible to mitigate the negative effects of climate change without addressing the practice. In this podcast, Carel van Randwyck, Themis' Chief Growth Officer speaks to Marc Jessel, Chief System Integrity Officer with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to discuss what can be done to increase the sustainability of forestry and reduce illegal logging, and how firms can ensure they are not unwittingly exposed through their supply chains.

In this episode, Olivia Dakeyne, Think Tank Manager at Themis, talks to Gavin Miller, a former detective who spent time working for the Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. This is the first in a short series of podcasts with Gavin Miller, and in this first episode, he talks about the specific crime landscape for modern slavery and human trafficking in Northern Ireland and gives us some fascinating and insightful real life cases that he worked on during his career, and how financial intelligence provided by financial institutions was so pivotal to these investigations - both to the victim experience and the prosecution.

In this episode, Themis Think Tank Manager, Olivia Dakeyne, speaks to Rocio Domingo Ramos, who is the Business and Human Rights Officer at Anti-Slavery International. Her research and policy work seeks to tackle forced labour in global supply chains, implementing Anti-Slavery's advocacy programmes on human rights due diligence and state-sponsored forced labour.   Anti-Slavery International is a leading charity that works to ensure that all people everywhere are free from all forms of slavery, always. They work in partnership with survivors, business, grassroots organisations and funding partners to deliver projects worldwide that challenge the root causes of modern slavery. And they do this by pushing for legal protections for people, making sure people know their rights and making the problem of, and solutions to, modern slavery much better understood by everyone.  Listen to this podcast to hear about forced labour in global supply chains and what regulation and legislation is needed to help safeguard against this.

Viri Chauhan, Themis Financial Crime SME, talks to Naresh Aggarwal, Associate Director of Policy and Technical at the Association of Corporate Treasurers. They discuss the responsibilities of a treasury function and various financial crime risk typologies that may be encountered by treasurers and how to respond to those threats. The subjects of financial derivatives, commodities and market abuse are also considered in the conversation. This is a deeper dive, longer podcast that provides some very useful insight and takeaways for anyone wishing to find out more about financial crime risk in corporate treasury.

In this episode, Themis' researcher Eliza Thompson interviews Farheen Ishtiaq-Stansfeld, a senior associate specialising in commercial crime at FieldFisher, a full-service firm with a market-leading financial services practice. Farheen shares her career journey thus far and what motivated her to pursue a path in financial crime and white collar law. We also discuss the importance of having colleagues and mentors who champion the development of women and look to build inclusive environments, which helps drive creativity and innovation. This episode is part of a wider series of podcast conversations that Themis is releasing with impressive women working in finance and tech.

In this episode, Themis financial crime researcher Elizabeth Humphrey interviews Linda Baskett, Global Head of Financial Crime at Computershare and former Financial Crime Director for Aon's UK entities, on the role of tech in fighting financial crime, data protection, and more, as well as her experience working in the financial crime sector as a woman. This conversation is part of a wider series of conversations that Themis is holding with leading women working in financial crime and tech, traditionally male-dominated industries, about their expertise and experiences.

In this episode, Themis' Head of Research Nadia O'Shaughnessy interviews Katarina Cook, Head of Financial Crime and MLRO for Brewin Dolphin, one of the UK's largest wealth management firms. Katarina tells us about her experiences as a female leader working in the world of financial crime and shares valuable advice for young people looking to embark on this career path. She also considers the impacts of remote working on women with carer responsibilities and explores what good parental leave policy looks like. This episode is part of a wider series of podcast conversations that Themis is releasing with impressive women working in finance and tech.

In this episode, Themis Head of Research Nadia O'Shaughnessy interviews Sue Langley OBE, who has had an illustrious career both the financial services industry and in the public sector. Sue tells us about her own experiences as a female leader in what have traditionally been very male-dominated areas and shares a range of valuable tips for young people navigating their career paths. This episode is part of a wider series of podcast conversations that Themis is releasing with impressive women working in finance and tech.

Listen to this podcast to hear about the very latest developments in the field of the illegal wildlife trade - both on the side of the perpetrators and law enforcement - and some fascinating case studies from those working on the front line.

In this episode, as part of Themis' Women in Financial Crime series, Consuelo Marzi, a Senior Manager at the Maltese Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, talks to Themis Think Tank Manager, Olivia Dakeyne, about Malta's impressive work to improve its anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing controls, which resulted in it being taken off the Financial Action Task Force's greylist of jurisdictions with strategic deficiences in June. Listen to this podcast to find out more about Malta's response to the FATF greylisting, the country's subsequent work on key financial crime issues and lessons learned from the process.

Viri Chauhan talks to Professor Nic Ryder, a global expert on terrorist financing about the risks that crypto assets could bring to this topic. In this podcast Nic explains how the use of crypto assets contributes to the terrorist financing typologies and provides some cases and examples of how criminals have taken advantage of technology to fulfil their goals. Nic and Viri also discuss some important developments in the war in Ukraine and how a certain country has designated Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and the implications of this.

In this episode, Themis financial crime researchers Elizabeth Humphrey and Eliza Thompson discuss the UAE government's impressive work to combat illicit financial flows through the Emirates. Listen to this podcast to find out more about the UAE's response to the recent FATF greylisting and the country's work on key financial crime issues.

In this podcast we talk to Dominika Benton, a PhD candidate whose research focuses on the use of cryptocurrencies in terrorist financing and the use of distributed ledger technology within the suspicious activity reporting regime in counter terrorism financing, about the use of cryptocurrencies, online gaming and the Metaverse in terrorist financing activities. We discuss what has been referred to as the 'gamification' of terrorist violence, a trend where those involved in terrorist financing are making more use of virtual worlds, video games, live streaming platforms and virtual currencies to finance terrorism. Dominika also gives a breakdown of the Dark Web, the future of virtual means of terrorist financing and advice for staying vigilant on social media. Dominika Benton is a part-time PhD candidate. Her research focuses on the use of cryptocurrencies in terrorist financing and the use of distributed ledger technology within the suspicious activity reporting regime in counter terrorism financing. Outside of academia, she is a legal advisor.

With the war in Ukraine having displaced more than 8 million people, and the number of people forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution worldwide having now crossed 100 million, vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation has never been higher. As part of our series of podcasts exploring the financial crime, human trafficking and modern slavery nexus, we talk to Jonathan Bell, Partner at RedCompass Labs, about the recently launched anti-slavery digital learning tool, and the RedFlag Accelerator, both of which can help financial services tackle this terrible trade in human beings. Listen here and find out how you can take action to fight modern slavery and human trafficking.

With concerns over an imminent invasion of Ukraine, the UK Government is considering sanctions and asset freezes on the wealthy Russians oligarchs who frequent London. In this podcast, Henry Williams and Francesca Lewis discuss whether this approach will work and examine how so much dubious wealth made the UK's capital its natural home.

Viri Chauhan from Themis talks with Dr Jonathan Brewer who is an expert on proliferation financing, which is the financing of weapons of mass destruction. Dr Brewer is a Visiting Professor at Kings College London and has held several UN posts related to sanctions and proliferation financing. Listen to this podcast to find out how proliferation financing is connected to money laundering and sanctions and what financial institutions should do about managing it.

Elizabeth Humphrey, Financial Crime Researcher at Themis, speaks to Will Fitzgibbon, senior investigative journalist at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), regarding the recently released Pandora Papers - the largest leak of offshore data in history. Will discusses his inside insights on the evolving story and its implications for the fight against financial crime.

Tackling environmental destruction and financial crime: An interview with Clare Rewcastle-BrownIn this podcast, brought to you in the lead-up to COP26, Carel van Randwyck, Chief Growth Officer at Themis, speaks to award-winning investigative journalist and environmental campaigner Clare Rewcastle-Brown, about her work at the nexus of environmental and financial crime in South East Asia. Not only was Clare at the forefront of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, she has also been shining an important light on deforestation and associated environmental destruction in the region.

Co-Author of the Key Man - Will Louch, talks to Themis CFO and MD MENA, James Wightman, about the brazen international fraud that he helped to uncover, at the heart of which lay Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj and its charismatic founder, Arif Naqvi. You're about to hear how a promise to make a lot of money whilst doing a lot of good went very wrong...

In this podcast Carel van Randwyck, Chief Growth Officer at Themis talks to Jasmine O'Connor, CEO of Anti-Slavery International, and Charles Mathias, Group chief risk officer at Fidelis Insurance, about the work they have been doing to integrate modern slavery considerations into insurance contracts.

In this podcast we talk about the responsibilities financial institutions have to address modern slavery in their supply chains. What are the challenges procurement departments and suppliers face in identifying and tackling this crime, and the things companies can do to overcome them. You will hear insights and experiences from experts who are at the forefront of tackling modern slavery today. Speakers include: Lord Deben - Chairman, SancroftJustine Green - Executive Director, UnseenImran Rasul - Chief Procurement Officer, NationwideHope Sherwin - Head of Social Impact, Themis

In our latest podcast, recorded as part of a series of interviews with leading investigators who have uncovered major international financial crime scandals, Themis host Frederik Obermaier, author of “The Panama Papers”, and Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists…who give us a unique glimpse into their enduring front-line fight against abuses of the global financial system by the corrupt and the powerful.

In this podcast, Nadia O'Shaughnessy, Director of the Themis Think Tank, talks to Justine Currell, a Director at leading UK charity Unseen, about the work that Unseen does to combat modern slavery, including via the national modern slavery helpline that it has been operating since 2016. Justine tells us about trends and challenges associated with the fight against modern slavery in the UK over the past five years.This podcast is brought to you as part of the outreach phase of our groundbreaking research into Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in the UK Financial Sector, commissioned by the UK Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner,

In this podcast Hope Sherwin, Themis Head of Social Impact, talks to Phil Spencer, from the UK NGO “Every Child Protected Against Trafficking” or ECPAT about the work his organisation does to tackle child trafficking in the UK and the role the financial services industry has to play. Phil is Training and Practice Officer at ECPAT UK, responsible for their training programmes for practitioners across the UK.

Corporate secrecy and financial crime have long gone hand in hand. Hidden wealth is stashed away in shell companies with obscure owners, whose roles in tales of grand-scale corruption go long unexposed. Although recent years have seen a wave of momentum to unveil some of these ultimate beneficial owners, much more still needs to be done to increase corporate transparency and dismantle the system's abuse by organised criminals and corrupt politicians.In March, Henry Williams, Head of Investigations at Themis, sat down with Oliver Bullough, investigative journalist and award-winning author of “Moneyland”, to hear his thoughts about this dark underside of the global financial system.This podcast is brought to you by Themis, with thanks to our partners Encompass.

In this podcast we talk to James Cockayne, John Sam-Kubam and Mark Eckstein about the many ways in which modern slavery is relevant to development finance institutions (DFIs). We discuss both the financial crime and ESG perspectives on tackling modern slavery in the development finance context, and also explore how slavery reduction could form more of an explicit objective of DFIs' lending and investment decisions.

We discuss the challenges faced by organisations, as well as the best practices businesses can enact to ensure that when they detect signs of MSHT these crimes are swiftly disrupted.

As many of our listeners will know, 1MDB is synonymous with the largest financial fraud of the century, whose tentacles extend across the dark economy from Hollywood stars, complicit bankers and lawyers to Wealthy Arab princes and corrupt political dynasties. This is the story of how one man's greed fed an ever growing web of deceit, that snowballs into corporate malfeasance and state sponsored corruption on a truly horrific scale.Following on from our earlier podcast in February, Dickon Johnstone, CEO of Themis sat down for another catch up with “Billion Dollar Whale” co-author and Wall Street Journal reporter Bradley Hope, to pick up the pieces and talk about the latest developments in the scandal that just keeps on giving. This podcast is brought to you by Themis with thanks to our partners Encompass.

In this podcast we talk to representatives from PwC, the University of South Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales about modern slavery and the accountancy profession. We discuss how modern slavery is relevant to accountants and explore ways in which they can engage with the topic.As leading abolitionist William Wilberforce once said, "You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know". A quote from Dr Katherine Christ on this podcast.This podcast is brought to you as part of our outreach phase of our research into Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in the Financial Services sector, commissioned by the UK Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner and carried out in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation, and supported by TSB, NatWest Group and RedCompass.

In this podcast we talk to Andrew Wallis OBE about the myths surrounding modern slavery. Andrew is CEO of the charity Unseen which also runs the Modern Slavery Helpline. Earlier this year Themis commissioned research of the financial sector which found that nearly 40% of financial services professionals don't believe modern slavery existas in the UK. Andew explains why this impression is misguided and the many forms in which firms are likely to encounter modern slavery.This Podcast is brought to you as part of a key industry-wide research project commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and delivered in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation and Themis. It is one of a series of focus groups and round-tables we will be releasing that address Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and the Financial Sector.

This Podcast is brought to you as part of a key industry-wide research project commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and delivered in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation and Themis. It is one of a series of focus groups and round-tables we will be releasing that address Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and the Financial Sector.In this podcast MD of Themis Community, Viri Chauhan speaks with representatives from Barclays, Bates Group and RedCompass about the current regulatory provision working to tackle Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking risk in Financial Institutions and discuss whether more should be done by regulators.

This is the 2nd in a series of 2 podcasts this summer on the financing of terrorism. Viri Chauhan talks to Professor Nic Ryder on specific terrorist threats from ISIS and how this has evolved to the connections with Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Developments in the regulatory landscape for terrorist financing are discussed and examples of best practice in the UK such as the work done by JMLIT – the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce is discussed. Practical recommendations are also provided to help organisations keep up with emerging threats.

"Terrorism financiers have a fraud dossier - a black book if you like - of what low-level fraud they can commit which will avoid detection by law enforcement agencies”.In our latest podcast Themis' Viri Chauhan is in conversation with Dr Nicholas Ryder - a professor in financial crime and an expert in Terrorist Financing. They discuss the basics and delve deeper into how terrorism is financed through legitimate companies, organisations and even the charitable sector. They also talk about what organisations should be doing to help mitigate this threat within their own organisations."9/11 was a catalyst. After 9/11, there was a plethora of initiatives - international, regional and domestic laws - which formed part of what George Bush famously referred to… as the global war on terrorism. What we found is that no one really defined… the financial aspects of the global war on terrorism"This is the first in a 2 part series exploring the world of terrorist financing.

In this episode Viri Chauhan from Themis talks with Tom Hewson and Jonathan Bell from Red Compass on their journey on how they have successfully launched their innovative product – RedFlag Accelerator. A comprehensive approach to mitigating the risks of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking which is provided free for use and adoption in banks and financial institutions.

In this episode we talk with: Peter Barnes - Head of Financial Crime Investigations at Standard Chartered and Chair of the Joint International Money Laundering Task Force's Modern Slavery Working Group. Prior to taking on investigations roles in the financial sector, Pete served 18 years in the Metropolitan Police Force. Nick Dale - Superintendent with West Midlands Police. He has recently had a variety of roles including being the Local Responsible Officer for Birmingham, a role designed to tackle issues of violence relating to gangs and organised crime. He was also the Senior Investigating Officer for Operation Fort, the UK's largest modern slavery investigation, involving about 400 victims, which has led to eight offenders receiving 55 ½ year prison sentences so far. Barry Koch - an internationally recognized expert in anti-money laundering and financial crime risk management who held senior legal and compliance positions at JP Morgan Chase, Western Union, and American Express.

This Podcast is brought to you as part of a key industry-wide research project commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and delivered in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation and Themis. It is one of a series of focus groups and round-tables will be releasing that addresses Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and the Financial Sector. In this episode, we talk about access to bank accounts for survivors of Modern Slavery in the UK, and what the financial services sector should be doing as a whole to help support victims.

Grab your chips, we are about to talk about the elephant in the room, Financial Crime Compliance, in land based casinos and digital gaming. In this podcast Sandeep Sroa, Associate Director of Themis Services, talks to Josie Preston, Head of AML of Ritz Club, Knightsbridge, London. We talk about Financial Crime Compliance and the impact to land based and digital gaming. Covid-19 has shut down the world, including land based casino's. Gaming customers are now more likely to be playing online as an alternative, however, does iGaming have the controls, governance, defence capabilities to ensure money laundering is kept at bay? Find out more in this exclusive interview.

Viri Chauhan, MD of Themis Community talks to Blair Glencorse, Executive Director and founder of Accountability Lab about Integrity Icon. Imagine a show, not focusing on celebrities, but instead on government officials. Integrity Icon (formerly known as Integrity Idol) is a movement to celebrate, encourage and connect honest civil servants who demonstrate exemplary integrity in their work. Blair and Viri also discuss the challenge of illicit financial flows (a concept explained in the corruption module) and how the impact of corruption is closer to home than you would normally imagine.

In this Podcast Themis Head of Investigations, Henry Williams, interviews Adjoa Adjei-Twum, CEO of EBII Compliance, about Africa's corruption perception problem, and the positive signs she sees for the continent's future.

In this episode we explore the dark underbelly of the internet, with a recording of a recent webinar we held in partnership with Acuris Risk Intelligence and the Capital Club Dubai. The webinar was titled Dark Mattter(s); Demystifying the Dark Web. In this middle east edition of the webinar, we explore what the dark web is, the current and emerging threats that we are all exposed to especially during lockdown, with a focus on the middle east. Professor Richard Benham, a leading expert in cyber crime and the world's first formal professor of Cyber Security Management, leads us through an overview of this lesser known part of the world wide web, and Nick Parfitt – Head of Market Planning for Acuris, puts questions to Richard from the audience.

Introduced by Themis CEO, Dickon Johnstone and Compered by Wall Street Journal Editor EMEA, Thorold Barker, our listeners will get insight into the the 1MDB scandal that rocked the financial world. In part the story was exposed by Bradley Hope, Wall Street Journal Journalist.