Uncover

Will automation and technology spell the end for delivering financial services in person? Will brick and mortar branches disappear from our high streets forever?  The debate about automation in banking is often binary - either everything must automated, or nothing should be. You're either pro-innovation or pro-status quo. Today's guest is building a company that challenges this polarizing narrative. Duncan Cockburn is the founder and CEO of OneBanks, a high-growth FinTech offering fully staffed, accessible kiosks where consumers can access the services of any bank - be it a digital upstart or an industry titan. 

Tom Robinson is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Elliptic, a firm that has pioneered blockchain analytics for financial crime compliance since 2013.  Tom joins Will Thompson to explore new research published by Elliptic on cross-chain bridges. Tom and Will also discuss OFAC's sanctioning of virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash.  Check out Elliptic's research on cross-chain crime here: https://hub.elliptic.co/analysis/cross-chain-crime-more-than-half-a-billion-dollars-has-been-laundered-through-a-cross-chain-bridge/

Any financial compliance professional knows that data can be both your greatest asset and your worst enemy. Siloed, manual data sets can be costly and time-consuming to manage… and still leave firms open to breaching regulations, and letting criminals through. Martin Rehak is the founder and CEO of Resistant AI. The company uses AI and machine learning to provide identity forensic solutions. In essence, it adds an AI layer on top of firms' existing fraud and money laundering solutions, helping them to identify new risks and prioritize potential threats.

Mark Straub is the CEO of Digital KYC firm Smile Identity. It aims to offer the widest reach across Africa, covering over 1 billion identities. Last year the company closed a successful $7 million Series A funding round.  Mark joins us to discuss the importance of financial inclusion, the role of Africa in the future of FinTech, and how Smile Identity will ensure its products can scale effectively.

Once described as the Winston Churchill of banking, Colin Walsh is a true industry veteran, taking on senior roles at Lloyds and American Express before founding Varo in 2015. Today, Varo has over 4 million customers, and remains the first and only consumer FinTech with a US banking charter. 

One of the many benefits of the dynamic FinTech environment across Europe today is its ability to design and develop innovative solutions to the needs of specific groups of users. Creators are one such audience. It's estimated that 50 million people worldwide consider themselves creators. Almost 2 million of those are professional creators, making a living from their passion full-time. They're a diverse bunch, generating revenue from YouTube, Twitch, Instagram acting, podcasting, writing and illustrating. Today we're speaking to an entrepreneur who has made serving this audience his business - Tonjé Bakang. Tonjé is the co-founder and CEO of OnScale (formerly Muse), a neobank for creators worldwide.

This special live edition of the Uncover podcast was recorded at London's Royal Institution in front of a live audience of more than 300 members of the ComplyAdvantage team from the UK, United States, Singapore and Romania.   Our guest for this special discussion is Christian Faes. Christian is the co-founder and Executive Chair of LendInvest, a property finance marketplace that has lent more than £4 billion to support house building in the UK. Prior to founding LendInvest, Christian was a real estate lawyer in Australia and the UK, co-founding the company in 2008. Christian is also a prominent advocate for FinTechs, serving as Chair of FinTech Founders. 

In our 2022 State of Financial Crime survey, North Korea was listed as one of the top 3 geopolitical hotspots firms globally are most concerned with. So we're delighted to have with us today two experts from RUSI's Center for Financial Crime and Security Studies - Sasha Erskine and Tom Keatinge - to tell us more about their latest research in this area. Specifically, they've been researching designated non-financial businesses and professions - or DNFBPs - and how they're being exploited by North Korea.  Check out their research here: https://static.rusi.org/271_EI_DNFBPs_Final.pdf

In this episode David Birch, Principal at 15Mb and author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services joins us to to talk about what it really means to “Know your customer.” Download today's show to explore one of the biggest questions in AML: Are high barriers to entry when it comes to accessing financial services really effective in preventing and detecting financial crime?

Our State of Financial Crime 2022 report found that a whopping 98% of firms say they are crypto native, offer crypto services, or are planning to do so in the future. So, with crypto services now reaching a mass audience, how do firms scale their compliance efforts? To explore this question we're be joined by Brandi Reynolds, Managing Director at the Bates Group, a leading consultancy firm working across the AML and compliance space. Brandi is also Chief Compliance Officer at eToro and Voyager. 

Colombia is now home to more than 320 FinTechs, a 37 percent rise on 2017, making Colombia, with a population of 52 million people, the third largest FinTech hub in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico. Today, we're speaking to Salomón Zarruk, CEO at Mono. Mono is a new Colombia-based B2B neobank designed to help entrepreneurs in the region reduce the time they spend on administrative work. 

In this episode, we interview two of the world's most consequential and insightful financial crime fighters - David Lewis, former FATF Executive Secretary and Robert Mazur, ex-undercover money launderer. We discuss money laundering, drug trafficking, and why existing approaches to tackling these issues aren't addressing the real risks. 

In our 2022 State of Financial Crime report, 41% of firms globally said that fraud detection was one of the key areas of their AML compliance programs they're looking to improve this year. So for this episode we're joined by Hubert Rachwalski, CEO at Nethone. Nethone is a Poland-based fraud detection company using machine learning to detect and prevent card-not-present fraud and account takeover. They also describe themselves as a ‘Know Your Users' company. In a recent technology report, Deloitte named Nethone Poland's fastest growing company, and the team raised almost $7m in its Series A funding round in July 2021. 

Raghunandan G is the founder of Zolve, a neobank based in India and the United States. In its Series A funding round in October 2021, Zolve picked up an impressive $40m. Raghu previously co-founded Taxi For Sure, a cab aggregator in India, and is himself an angel investor in a number of successful startups. In this interview, Raghu explores the challenges and opportunities that come with neobanking in two of the world's biggest markets. 

Jeffrey Robinson is the international bestselling author of 30 books, including his classic money laundering tour de force, The Laundrymen, which made headlines in 14 countries. He writes and speaks widely on issues of money laundering and financial crime. A self-described ‘old fashioned story teller', Jeffrey isn't afraid to challenge established views and consensus opinions.  

Victor Trokoudes is the Co-Founder and CEO at Plum. After studying economics at Harvard, Victor joined Transferwise early in the company's life, helping to launch it in 25 markets. Today, Plum has more than 2 million registered customers. He joins Charles Delingpole to explore how he's come to build a FinTech for young people.

Charles Delingpole, Founder and CEO at ComplyAdvantage, interviews Simon McFeely, Global Head of Risk and Compliance at TransferMate. The payments platform has a great story to tell, building a product that removes real problems for compliance officers.

As a former MLRO and Head of Compliance, Meagan Birch understands what it's like to work in a financial institution on the front lines of the fight against financial crime. In this episode, she joins Jon Draper, Product Director at ComplyAdvantage, for an in-depth discussion on why AML systems aren't effective enough today - and how they can be improved. Further reading: How to choose an AML software vendor AI, machine learning and the fight against financial crime What is a Money Laundering Reporting Officer?

Join Arshi Singh, Product Director at ComplyAdvantage, for an in-depth discussion with Ed Luo, Head of Compliance Systems at NEST Financial Group. They'll be talking about cryptocurrencies, the future of finance, and why compliance teams need to be agile to thrive in today's world.  Further reading: Crypto State of Play: Insights from Industry Leaders Cryptocurrency Regulations Around the World FATF: Latest Virtual Asset and VASP Guidance FATF Travel Rule: What You Need to Know

Join our CEO and Founder Charles Delingpole for a fascinating conversation with Benjamin Fernandes, CEO and Founder of NALA Money. They discuss what it takes to build a fintech, and how innovation in financial technology can improve lives around the world.  Further reading: AML Compliance & Money Laundering: https://complyadvantage.com/knowledgebase/aml-compliance-money-remittance/  Politically Exposed Persons Screening Around the World: https://complyadvantage.com/blog/politically-exposed-persons-peps-screening-requirements-around-the-world/  Risk Management for Hypergrowth Companies: https://complyadvantage.com/blog/hypergrowth-companies-need-a-risk-solution-that-can-keep-up-part-1/ 

Join COO & CFO Vatsa Narasimha for a conversation with Brent McIntosh from the Council on Foreign Relations. Before joining the CFR, Brent served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. In a wide-ranging conversation, Brent and Vatsa discuss the digitization of payments, sanctions evasion and cryptocurrencies. Read more about the topics discussed in this episode: Sanctions and geopolitics: https://complyadvantage.com/resource-hub/type/guide/global-sanctions-2021/ Cryptocurrencies - state of play: https://complyadvantage.com/blog/crypto-state-of-play-5-insights-and-best-practices-from-industry-leaders/ A Guide to the US Anti-Money Laundering Act: https://complyadvantage.com/resource-hub/type/guide/a-guide-to-the-us-anti-money-laundering-act-amla/

In this week's episode, ComplyAdvantage COO & CFO Vatsa Narasimha discusses the FinCEN files investigation with Jason Leopold from BuzzFeed News. The FinCEN files revealed that financial institutions around the world have been complicit, or at least complacent, in the movement of trillions of dollars of illicit funds.

In our first episode we talk to Jan Philippaerts, VP of Compliance Operations, CurrencyCloud about innovations in Know Your Customer (KYC), making your AML operations more efficient, and why strong AML is a key pillar of trust.