Worldwide, the “success rate” for fighting financial crime is so low it can hardly be considered as such. To gain the upper hand, financial institutions and governments have to work together.
By some estimates, only 1 percent of funds from illicit activity are caught as they cycle through the worldwide financial system. Clearly, existing mechanisms and techniques haven’t kept up with resourceful and inventive criminals.
“All of the money that we’re spending on the financial crime fight, on the technology and other areas, hasn’t really been effective,” said David Craig. “We’ve got to find a way of business and public partnerships working together with government, internationally, to address this.”
An effective response to financial crime will required collaboration not only across borders, but between the private and public spheres as well.
“The design of the system is there. For 30 years, we had these well-developed regulations,” said Rob Wainwright, head of Europol. “What we need now are regulations that better allow for the sharing of data and the ability for us to coordinate on an international level.”
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