AML Compliance Trends for 2022

The ever-changing business landscape is forcing anti-money laundering (AML) compliance teams to continuously find ways to adapt while still managing increasing risks and costs. This is especially challenging when technology, products and payment rails are changing faster than regulations. So how does a compliance team in 2022 stay informed with the latest trends in AML compliance? 

The Alessa team polled hundreds of respondents across the globe and interviewed several compliance leaders to get their perspective on the challenges they are facing, how they plan to invest compliance budgets and where they would like to see the industry go. 

This report includes a summary of the survey results, as well as a carefully curated collection of insights from our compliance experts on the current trends in AML compliance.

Download the 2022 AML Compliance Trends Report

Recent Trends – What AML Compliance Professionals Are Saying

•       Getting a clear connection between a client and high-risk entities is a challenge for 45% of AML professionals
•       50% think firms need to focus more on AML crypto risk
•       39% believe their AML compliance program is too manual
•       34.5% have trouble with testing, validating and documenting risk models
•       29.2% have a challenge adapting AML risk scoring models to fit recent developments

Meet Our Panel of AML Compliance Experts: 

Shane Bauer, First Vice President – Compliance, BSA and Security Officer, Bankers’ Bank 

Shane’s responsibilities at Bankers’ Bank include ensuring compliance to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), contributing to the Payments Strategy Group and a variety of other AML risk management functions. Bankers’ Bank provides correspondent banking services to community banks throughout the upper Midwest, including asset liability management, bank cards, cash letter, commercial, international, investments, leasing, mortgages, and wealth management. 

Carolyn A DaCosta, Group Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary, JMMB Group Limited 

Carolyn specializes in corporate governance, financial operations, law, regulatory and international compliance and is responsible for legal and regulatory matters for the JMMB Group of Companies. In keeping with the Group’s commitment to effective corporate governance, she ensures compliance with all relevant statutory and regulatory requirements, monitors changes in relevant legislation and ensures the taking of appropriate action, as required, staying up to date on AML compliance trends. 

Neil Kumar, Vice President, Compliance, Alloya Corporate FCU 

Neil specializes in the USA PATRIOT Act, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), AML Act of 2020, KYC/CIP, business continuity management, risk management, financial crimes management, OFAC sanctions and quality assurance for the retail and wholesale financial services industry. In addition to overseeing the anti-financial crime activities at Alloya, he is a contributing member to the Faster Payments Council (FPC) Fraud Information Sharing Work Group. His 17 years of BSA Officer experience is supported by his Anti-Money Laundering and Global Sanctions specialist certifications from the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and his membership to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

The Respondents

The respondents for our first annual AML Compliance Trends Report were mainly located in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The majority were part of compliance teams at banks and credit unions. We also saw participation from many MSBs, Casa de Cambios, virtual asset exchange providers and FinTechs. In terms of experience, we received responses from a variety of job functions within the compliance team including C-suite and compliance officers, analysts and investigators.

This provided both a view from the top, as well as a perspective from those responsible for the detailed execution of AML compliance programs. An overwhelming amount of our respondents came from compliance teams with less than 50 people and organizations with less than 1,000 employees.

Download the whitepaper today to learn more about how recent AML compliance trends may affect your current AML compliance solutions.

Looking Ahead: AML Compliance Solutions for 2022

While responses varied on several topics, a consensus in the industry is that a majority of promising solutions for effective financial compliance seem to lie in automation and software. Alessa provides AML tools and solutions that meet modern compliance issues head on, such as continuous controls monitoring, real-time transaction monitoring and sanctions screening solutions.

At Alessa we always stay up to date on the latest AML compliance trends, contact our knowledgeable software solutions team today for assistance in your compliance needs.