Skip to content

ABA Highlights 2024

Anti-money laundering (AML), sanctions compliance and anti-fraud expectations are rapidly changing, with new challenges and requirements coming online at a rapid pace.  

The annual American Bankers Association (ABA) Financial Crime Enforcement Conference addressed a number of these realities, while also providing some tangible food-for-thought on how organizations can and should be thinking about getting ahead of risk, including the leveraging of new technology.  We’ve highlighted some of what we learned below for your review. 

1. It takes all of us to make lasting progress

The conference kicked off with an impassioned talk from Brad Smith, the Acting Undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.  He highlighted the importance of industry and vendors as the ‘front line’ in guarding the financial system against an unprecedented level of threats ranging from Russia to concerns in the Middle East and beyond.    

From the government, to the private sector, to the vendor ecosystem, there are some incredible folks steadfastly working to advance the mission of protecting the integrity of the financial system.  This gathering in Washington further emphasized that reality and underscored the importance of partnership, information information and know-how sharing and true collaboration.  In sum, it takes a network to defeat a network.

2. AI and technology represents a range of benefits 

There is no doubt that AI is again the talk of the conference, with packed breakout rooms, eager side-bar conversations and a general desire of attendees to “not get left behind” and find practical ways to get started on their AI journey.  

It was great to hear from Meera Das at Capital One and others on the front-line of applying AI to real-world risk and compliance problems in the banking sector.  The point was made too, that AI is more than cost rationalization, it is about making compliance officers and analysts more effective as they perform critical, mission-critical tasks.  

At Sigma360, we are helping address this with highly performant software that aides organizations in getting started on their AI journey without a lot of the headache that might otherwise be involved. We will be demonstrating those capabilities live in November and would love to have you come check that out. Click here to register. 

Some of the areas highlighted where AI is driving greater efficiency and effectiveness  included the following: 

3. Re-thinking AML and sanctions risk assessments 

Participants noted the impact and importance of risk assessments, which for many, may well change the way they organize to operate.  A key focus of regulators and participants centered on how to properly assess risk, document it and ensure your institution has in place the right tools to address those customers defined as high-risk from a screening and monitoring perspective. 

Some noted that with the confluence of a heightened global risk environment and political change a certainty in the United States (with the possibility of a new regulatory posture and focus), that re-assessing institutional risk is critically important heading into 2025.

4. New guidance and best-practices released 

A highlight of the conference was hearing from Matt Axelrod who offered new and specific guidance for financial institutions in their work to comply with the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).  The guidance points out a number of best-practices, including real-time screening of all parties in a transaction and leveraging of available databases that are specifically focused on shining a light on potential evasion.  A link to the shared guidance can be found here.

5. Emerging threats to have on your radar 

The Honorable Juan Zarate provided a masterclass on the reality of threats facing teams from a cyber security perspective, highlighting real challenges posed by nation-state actors and the oncoming reality of supercomputing and the nation states behind them. He did offer some good news, in that the United States is well prepared to meet these growing challenges, however, that will not happen without continued investment, effort and acknowledgement of the threat by those in its crosshairs.  

Other threats that continue to emerge (but maybe are not new) included elder fraud, new approaches to fraud more broadly, crypto-related risks, and the risks and rewards of Banking-as-a-Service.

6. Quality counts (in general and) in the eyes of the regulator 

2024 has seen a torrent of enforcement actions, ranging from gross misconduct, to understaffed teams, to underpowered compliance executives to insufficient controls and control testing. It has also included seemingly absent boards and other mishaps that are hard to fathom. With all of that in scope, regulators noted the importance of ensuring that an institution has an effective program and qualified individuals at the controls.  This starts with leadership and ultimately must transcend the organization.  In discussing some recent fines, conference participants acknowledged that ‘reducing costs’, while part of the equation, cannot be the equation alone.  

Much of this is not new, as institutions continue to face scrutiny on items that are clearly outlined, have been historically highlighted by regulators and are fixable through focus, investment and the pursuit of program effectiveness.  

Conclusion 

The ABA Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference provided a valuable touchpoint for government and industry professionals to take stock in the nation’s capital and look over-the-horizon at what is coming (and in many respects, coming fast).  Ensuring you and your institution understand your risk, have the right, qualified people in place and embrace technology are essential elements to staying ahead of a rapidly evolving threat environment. 

To find out more about Sigma360’s approach to advanced adverse media capabilities please  request your demo today.

How can Sigma360 help me stay ahead? 

Using Sigma360's risk decisioning software platform, organizations can not only get ahead of risk, but leverage unstructured data - like the screening examples highlighted in this article.  


To see Sigma360 in action, book a demo.
Sanctions Risk Management Investigations Entity Resolution
Sigma Loading