Banks believe there is too much security regulation, but little enforcement

According to a research conducted by LexisNexis Risk Solutions and the British Bankers Association (BBA), 54% of compliance professionals would choose another career path if they had the opportunity. Evolving criminal methodologies are currently the single biggest financial crime risk, according to 42% of banking and financial services professionals.

The report reveals that while some of Britain’s major banks are spending as much as USD 1 billion each year on AML compliance, both banks and law enforcement agencies express concerns over the changing face of financial crime, and their ability to effectively combat emerging risks.

Almost a third (32%) of respondents say that the Fourth EU AML Directive will have no effect - or could even increase levels – of money laundering across Europe, while 47% predict it will decrease it “somewhat”. Fewer than one in five (17%) expect the Directive to have a dramatic effect.

The report also highlights concerns about a shortage of AML compliance professionals in the UK. Increasing levels of personal liability are expected to exacerbate this gap, as half (50%) of compliance professionals said the Senior Managers Regime would make their jobs more or a lot more stressful and an even greater number (54%) said if they had the opportunity they would choose another career path in light of the increased personal liabilities.

Findings reveals that 44% of banking and financial services professionals say evolving criminal methodologies will be the biggest single emerging financial crime risk to their business in the next year, followed by a lack of personnel in their risk function (13%). What’s more, over the next two years, preventing cybercrime will be the single biggest area of investment for more than a third (37%) of respondents, with the next two most common answers being fraud (23%) and AML (20%).