The directives are clear for all EU entities, and the lack of compliance in the recent Baltics case has hurt the bank's share price and reputation.

Banks are really starting to take a more integrated approach to financial crime management, and our announcement today about First National Bank (FNB) of Lebanon is a case in point.

Clearly, we need other approaches to AML case management than hiring investigators. An increase in both effectiveness and efficiency of the overall compliance process is required.

Looking ahead to 2018, I predict a rising trend for organizations to do four things better than today in the realm of financial crime.

IFRS 9 changes the accounting recognition of loan impairment from an “incurred” to an “expected” loss basis, requiring new predictive models that bring the worlds of accounting and credit risk modelling ever closer together.

Ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) identification and verification needs to become an essential component of customer onboarding and ongoing customer due diligence processes.

The last thing an organization with the tagline “We Power Good” wants to do is inadvertently power bad things — things like money laundering, tax evasion or terrorist financing. That’s why GVNG is now working with FICO.

I predicted last year that in 2017 financial crime compliance would break through the “cloud ceiling,” and we are certai...