trending
Global banks may express confidence in their efforts to combat financial crime, but a new international survey reveals a stark disconnect between optimism and operational reality.
BioCatch’s Dark Economy Survey, which canvassed 800 anti-money laundering (AML), compliance, and fraud specialists across five continents, paints a troubling picture.
While 77% of respondents believe banks are “winning the war” globally, only 55% say their own institutions are making a meaningful impact.
A Troubling Truth
The report highlights a troubling truth – organised criminal groups are evolving faster than the financial institutions tasked with stopping them.
An overwhelming 79% of survey participants say money launderers now deploy more sophisticated techniques than banks can currently detect, often exploiting technology faster than risk defences can adapt.
The survey also underscores a broader, systemic problem: institutional silos and limited investigative scope.
While 61% of fraud professionals acknowledge that a single laundering incident typically points to wider networks, 41% admit their investigations are confined to the individual account under scrutiny.
This narrow approach risks allowing entire criminal networks to persist undetected.
“The sheer scale of the Dark Economy is staggering,” said BioCatch CEO Gadi Mazor.
“With millions of money mule accounts hiding in plain sight, the real challenge is identifying and neutralising these conduits before they’re used – not after the money’s already moved.”
Fraud and Other Serious Crimes
The link between financial fraud and other serious crimes is becoming more widely acknowledged.
A striking 83% of respondents now recognise connections between fraud and activities such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, and terrorism financing.
This correlation underscores the need for AML to be treated not just as a compliance issue, but as a national and global security imperative.
Technology is at the heart of both the problem and its solution.
Criminal actors are leveraging generative AI, social media, and dark web forums to create more elusive laundering schemes.
Yet institutions with behaviour-based solutions are seeing better outcomes.
Notably, Australia, where nine of the ten largest banks have these systems, recorded the only regional decline in year-on-year fraud losses.
One of the most significant developments is the launch of real-time intelligence-sharing networks based on behavioural and device data.
Early adopters, including Australia’s five largest banks, are using the platform to flag and block suspect transactions before they complete.
Greater Regulatory Intervention
As criminal groups grow more agile, calls for greater regulatory intervention are mounting.
Nearly 90% of respondents believe more oversight is necessary to counter the Dark Economy effectively.
And with $3.1 trillion in illicit finance flowing through global banking channels last year – according to Nasdaq – the urgency is palpable.
The message is clear: stopping money laundering requires more than just better tools.
It demands collaboration, real-time intelligence, and a strategic shift from reactive defence to proactive disruption.
Comments