Financial Crime and Regulatory Risk – Getting it Right

Money laundering and related financial crimes pose an ever-increasing risk to companies in all industries. These risks are increasing both in terms of size and frequency and most significantly with respect to the sophistication and complexity of the means and methods used to carry out these crimes.
A report published by the Greens/EFA Group in December 2018 states that the latest estimates regarding the cost of corruption across the EU puts the loss to GDP as a result somewhere between €179 billion and €950 billion each year. A Financial Crime Thematic Review report published by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority in April 2019, dictates what they expect with regards to firms managing fraud risk, but this advice is applicable to all financial crime risks firms face:
“our overall expectation that firms’ senior management should be proactive in taking responsibility for identifying and assessing fraud risk and the adequacy of existing controls, and ensure that, if necessary, appropriate additional controls are put in place. We expect a firm to consider the full implications of the fraud risks it faces, which may have wider effects on its reputation, its customers and the markets in which it operates”.

The global nature of today’s business and an increasingly aggressive enforcement environment requires a deep understanding of complex, overlapping and sometimes contradictory international regulations and regulatory approaches. Firms are therefore strongly advised to ensure they
assemble a legal counsel who has the skills and experience to help them manage the significant legal, commercial and reputational risks associated with regulatory and white-collar crime issues.

https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas-and-trends/crime-areas/economic-crime/money-
laundering