Estonia’s banking sector has become a test case for how intelligence sharing can transform the fight against financial crime.
Drawing on her experience as both a diplomat and a compliance professional, Coop Pank sanctions and counter-terrorism financing officer Siiri Grabbi has offered a detailed look into how collaboration — supported by Salv Bridge — has reshaped daily AML and sanctions operations across the country, claims Salv.
Grabbi spent more than a decade as a diplomat, including time in Brussels as a RELEX Counsellor involved in negotiating EU sanctions. While that work helped establish sanctioning rules, her move into banking exposed the other side of the equation: how criminals evade these measures and how financial institutions must work together to stop them. She explained that this shift emphasised the importance of rapid information sharing, which has now become central to her role.
Today, Grabbi serves in her sanctions role at Coop Pank and chairs the Sanctions Working Group within the Estonian Banking Association. She has worked with Salv from its early days, first at LHV Bank and now at Coop Pank, with both the Screening and Bridge platforms becoming embedded tools in everyday operations. While Bridge may not be used daily, she noted that it has become a standard part of their approach to tackling fraud, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion.
One of the biggest cultural shifts has been the creation of trust among institutions. Before Bridge existed, banks shared information through informal channels such as WhatsApp groups, association meetings or direct calls — all of which struggled to keep pace with fast-moving financial crime. Staff turnover often resulted in critical information failing to reach the right individuals. Senior leadership across Estonia’s banks recognised the need for a unified approach, prompting Chief Executives and risk leaders to push for stronger cooperation.
This leadership support helped embed collaboration as part of the AML culture. Estonia’s financial sector is relatively small, meaning professionals know each other personally — an advantage that Salv Bridge’s workshops and regular interactions amplified. Putting names and faces together helped establish trust, which later became the essential foundation for fast, coordinated response.
Salv Bridge is now ingrained in daily AML and fraud processes. Teams rely on it to exchange intelligence whenever a suspicious case arises. For fraud cases, banks instantly circulate IBANs associated with fraudulent accounts, allowing multiple institutions to react within minutes. That speed is crucial when illicit funds are rapidly transferred across multiple banks. According to Grabbi, this has resulted in faster recalls and fewer losses.
The platform is equally important for sanctions cases. When potential sanctions matches appear — especially where common names cause uncertainty — banks verify key details such as dates of birth with peers to avoid false positives or unnecessary freezes. This also prevents customer disruption, as genuine transactions can be released within minutes. In many cases, it enhances customer satisfaction for both payer and payee banks.
Salv Bridge has strengthened links with Estonian authorities as well, including the Tax and Customs Board. When banks detect possible sanctions evasion, suspicious activity reports can be filed directly through the same secure channel, replacing slower legacy systems. Every interaction is logged, controlled and more efficient.
Success, Grabbi noted, relies on more than technology. Banks created shared processes early on, defining what information could be exchanged, the legal basis for sharing, and expected response times. This consistency made collaboration predictable and routine. Informal professional relationships also matter, as trust between lawyers, compliance teams and AML officers accelerates decisions. Grabbi emphasised that working in silos is ineffective — cooperation improves speed and accuracy.
Regular interactions with regulators, FIU representatives and ministry officials help maintain this alignment. Meanwhile, cross-border collaboration has also expanded. Estonian banks now exchange intelligence with Lithuanian institutions, including FinTech firms such as Paysera. This is important because smaller firms often act as transit banks for fraud flows heading to third countries. Rapid intervention means protecting both domestic and international customers.
These partnerships also safeguard reputations. Legitimate customers expect their banks to prevent fraud, money laundering and sanction evasion. Every successful recall and every coordinated investigation enhances trust across the financial ecosystem. While legal frameworks remain complex — especially with differing interpretations of EU rules — practical cooperation is already showing what can be achieved ahead of upcoming regulations like AMLR Article 75.
For Grabbi, Salv Bridge proves what the sector has long discussed: collaboration works. It delivers faster responses, greater customer protection and a stronger network of trust among teams who once operated in isolation. Each message shared reinforces that trust, and each quick reply highlights why cooperation is vital. By humanising the process and connecting professionals directly, Estonia has built an instinctive, collaborative model of financial crime prevention.
And ultimately, as Grabbi argues, that human connection — more than any single law — is what will help banks win the fight against financial crime.
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