Financial crime does not operate in silos — yet too often, financial institutions still do.
That disconnect is something I’ve seen repeatedly throughout my career, and it was also a recurring theme during discussions at the ACAMS The Assembly Europe. Across conversations with compliance leaders, investigators and regulators, I heard an industry increasingly aware that change is no longer optional. Legacy approaches, built around fragmented systems and isolated teams, are proving insufficient against an increasingly connected threat landscape.
What is emerging instead is a growing consensus: greater integration, smarter automation, and collective intelligence will define the next generation of financial crime prevention.
The Threat Landscape Commands Better Controls
Accelerating fraud activity, increasingly coordinated criminal networks and rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) are forcing institutions to rethink and reassess how they combat financial crime. The scale and sophistication of illicit activity continue to increase at a pace that many traditional operating models struggle to match. In 2025, global illicit financial activity was estimated at $4.4 trillion, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 19.2% between 2023 and 2025.
Europe has not been immune to this risk. Illicit flows linked to fraud, scams, drug trafficking, human trafficking and terrorist financing reached an estimated $158 billion in 2025, with fraud and scams representing substantial, and rapidly increasing, components.
From discussions directly with institutions, these trends are far from theoretical. Confidence scams, advance-fee fraud, cyber-enabled fraud and Business Email Compromise (BEC) continue to rise at double-digit rates. More importantly, these threats are no longer developing independently, they are becoming increasingly interconnected, adaptive, and industrialised.
Yet many organisations still relying on fragmented systems, manual processes and defensive reporting models designed for a legacy threat landscape. The consequence is a widening gap between the speed at which financial crime evolves and the ability of institutions to detect, interpret and respond effectively.
Siloed Operations Create Opportunities for Criminals
Organisational silos emerged as one of the most persistent themes in discussions at ACAMS Europe. When fraud prevention and AML teams operate disparately, critical context is lost. Each rely on separate data sources, alerts, workflows, and investigative processes. Investigators are left attempting to assemble fragmented pieces of information across disconnected systems, slowing response times and increasing the likelihood that suspicious activity remains undetected.
Criminals, however, do not operate within organisational boundaries. They move fluidly across channels, products, and institutions, exploiting gap that exist between teams and systems.
Without shared intelligence and a connected view of risk, institutions struggle to understand the full scale and interconnected nature of criminal activity.
The message is increasingly clear: financial crime is an ecosystem challenge and can no longer be addressed as a collection of isolated events.
Agentic AI Is Redefining Efficiency
Much of the discussion at ACAMS Europe centred on the evolution of AI, and particularly the emergence of agentic AI workforces. This represents a significant shift in how technology can support financial crime operations, moving beyond tools that simply assist users toward AI agents capable of executing defined tasks, operating within established guardrails, and working alongside human investigators.
From my perspective, the value of this evolution extends beyond efficiency alone. The greater opportunity lies in delivering consistency, scalability and targeted resource allocation. By allowing AI agents to take on repetitive and process-driven activities, institutions can enable investigators and analysts to focus on higher-value work, complex investigations, nuanced decision-making, and scenarios where human judgement and experience remain essential.
AI should not be viewed as replacing expertise; it should be viewed as amplifying it. A golden thread that should be woven through the fabric of our financial ecosystem, not necessarily a silver bullet.
Collective Intelligence Is Foundational
Perhaps the strongest message I took away from ACAMS Europe was that fighting financial crime effectively requires a transition from isolated efforts to collective intelligence. That concept resonated strongly because it mirrors what criminals already do exceptionally well; collaborate, share intelligence and information while adapting in near real time.
To counter increasingly organised threats, financial institutions must be able to do the same, responsibly, securely, at pace and scale.
Collective intelligence enables institutions to:
- Identify emerging fraud and financial crime typologies earlier
- Reduce false positives through broader behavioural context
- Disrupt mule networks, shell companies and high-risk entities effectively
- Strengthen the broader ecosystem through shared learning and insights
At Nasdaq Verafin, this network effect is powered by insights derived from over 850 million counterparties spanning 2800 financial institutions globally. These peer‑powered insights complement advanced analytics and AI, create a broader and more dynamic picture of risk, one that no single institution can achieve in isolation.
From Fragmented Controls to Unified Defence
ACAMS The Assembly Europe reinforced what feels like a pivotal shift in financial crime prevention, one that will likely define the next generation of AML and fraud prevention programmes.
My takeaways from the conference were relatively straightforward. Together, financial institutions must:
- Breakdown internal silos between fraud prevention and AML functions
- Embrace agentic AI to scale expertise, not replace it
- Participate in collective intelligence networks that strengthen the broader financial ecosystem
The future of financial crime prevention lies not in isolated controls, but in connected intelligence, integrated operations, and collaborative defence.
The path forward is becoming increasingly clear, and it lies beyond silos.
For more, read about our holistic FRAML approach to fighting financial crime.
About the Author:
Kamlesh Harry
Principal Strategic Advisor of Fraud Solutions
Kamlesh Harry currently serves as Principal Strategic Advisor of Fraud Solutions at Nasdaq Verafin, leading the global financial crime prevention strategy. During his career built at global tier 1 banks across South Africa, the U.S. and the U.K., he has helped financial institutions identify and mitigate financial crime risks while advancing payment fraud risk management, cyber security and business operations. A passionate advocate for raising awareness and education amongst students and vulnerable communities, Kamlesh invests personal time volunteering with the local law enforcement in the fight against financial crime. He also actively promotes fraud, financial crime and cyber risk awareness across markets, fostering skills to build a safer digital ecosystem. He is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) as accredited by ISACA.
