The London Risk and Compliance Summit explored the technologies and partnerships that are enabling financial institutions to be ‘risk confident’ and #FightFinancialCrime. Here are some of the highlights:
- The summit considered how artificial intelligence and superintelligence will revolutionize our daily and professional lives.
- Sessions on the human cost of modern slavery and financial crime included the personal story of a child trafficking survivor.
- Watch the key sessions at the first ever Virtual Risk and Compliance Summit on 19 April.
Attended by more than 600 thought-leaders and practitioners in the financial markets, risk and compliance communities, the annual Risk and Compliance Summit in London highlighted the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI), regulation, emerging technology and innovation, and the fight against financial crime and modern slavery.
A series of interactive debates, keynote speeches, interviews and panel discussions in plenary and breakout sessions aimed to make attendees feel more confident in dealing with rapidly evolving regulations and embracing new technologies.
Relive the Summit’s Twitter Moments
Getting the AI balance right
In the opening speech, David Craig, President of Financial & Risk, spoke about how data is the ‘new gold’ for financial and risk professionals as we drive towards a future of smarter humans with smarter machines.
Dr. Ayesha Khanna, CEO and Founder of ADDO AI, added in a thought-provoking keynote speech on how AI is revolutionizing our personal and professional lives. “We’re not far from the reality of machines coming into every aspect of our lives, and smarter machines make smarter humans,” she said.
Some 85 percent of the audience agreed that automation will enhance job satisfaction, while the key for all compliance and financial professionals is upskilling for an AI-driven future.
But in the midst of the excitement around the use of new technology, Dr. Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, Executive Director, Cambridge Centre of the Study of Existential Risk, told Phil Cotter, Managing Director Risk, about the need to be cautious and to forecast, prevent and mitigate the threats from malicious use of AI.
The rapid technological advances and the advent of new business models present risks and opportunities within fintech communities.
Vilius Sapoka, Finance Minister of Lithuania — an EU country with a population of less than three million and rapidly rising on the European fintech map — shared the approach policymakers and regulators can adopt to ensure a balance between the promotion of innovation and ensuring consumer protection and financial stability, and maintaining the fight against illegal activities.
Three approaches to risk
- Be Risk Intelligent
Collaboration and partnerships was a key theme and take away from the Risk Intelligent stream, whether in relation to financial information sharing between public and private sector, or managing third-party risks more effectively.
- Be Risk Ready
The rise of regulatory expectations was reiterated throughout the Risk Ready stream. The holistic approach to regulation is key to successfully navigating the ever-changing regulatory landscape, according to Stephen Hanks, Head of Market Policy at FCA.
With GDPR coming into effect in less than two months, regulatory expectations on the accountability and governance of privacy is changing. When assessing a risk-based approach to data privacy and information security, it is essential to take into account the ramifications of cyber-resilience.
- Be Risk Agile
The topics in the Risk Agile stream ranged from integrated risk management, digital identity and authentication technologies and challenges this presents from a regulatory perspective, to data usage and ownership, and the benefits of a centralized versus decentralized approach.
Find out how Connected Risk delivers optimal risk management through an enterprise-wide view of risk
Value of an open platform
Collaboration and the use of an open platform is becoming a priority for financial institutions that want to accelerate innovation and embrace big data and cloud technologies.
In the Smarter Humans with Smarter Machines session, delegates heard how our Labs are utilizing technologies such as machine learning and article clustering.
Our open platform partner, Fenergo, talked about how it is using our content to accelerate the onboarding of corporate and institutional customers.
In addition, trusted World-Check Risk Intelligence data is being brought into the Salesforce workflow with the launch of the new Customer Risk Screener Application in the AppExchange.
The human cost of modern slavery and financial crime
The afternoon plenary sessions brought the attention back to financial and organized crime.
See how you can help #Fightfinancialcrime
A chilling personal story of Rani Hong, a survivor of child trafficking and one of the world’s leading voices in the fight against modern slavery, highlighted the human cost of modern slavery.
“Modern slavery is real. Over 150 years after abolition, more than 45 million people are enslaved. How is this possible?” asked Rani. “We is greater than me”, she emphasized, encouraging the delegates to act as change-makers in fighting modern slavery.
We are committed to helping businesses stamp out forced labor by providing the tools, technology and data needed to bring new levels of supply chain transparency to their global operations.
#AdoptTheSeal campaign to stop modern day slavery
Charmian Gooch, co-founding director of Global Witness, highlighted how anonymous companies are fueling corruption, making it almost impossible to find the actual human beings responsible for terrible crimes.
A secretive real estate market in the UK also acts as a laundering machine, with around 85,000 properties owned by offshore companies.
Misha Glenny, a former BBC journalist and author of McMafia, the non-fiction work that inspired the BBC One drama series, talked about how traditional organized crime networks are going digital as they understand that embracing technology can lead to spectacular profit.
Hackers are increasingly becoming the new mafia and more than ever before we need to be ready to address cyber security risks.
