AML compliance continues to struggle under the weight of watered-down narratives that fail to reflect the true scale of the issue.
According to RelyComply, with content saturation diluting public understanding, a fresh approach is essential to restore the integrity of discussions surrounding financial crime and its social consequences.
Compliance is far from a niche topic; it is a vital defence mechanism that protects individuals and communities, and the FinTech and RegTech sectors play an essential role in preventing illicit activity across the financial system.
As industry voices increasingly highlight the human impact of financial crime, the message is clear: meaningful AML culture change relies on strong industry leadership. The consequences of inaction are severe, and thought leadership has an important part to play in shaping a safer financial ecosystem. The stakes could not be higher when customer livelihoods, global stability and institutional trust are at risk.
RelyComply CEO Bradley Elliott said, “The real human cost of financial crime is horrific; considered thought leadership can remind us that’s the case, and prove that we need to care enough to make our anti-fincrime defence as powerful as it should be.”
At the centre of this evolving conversation is a framework rooted in three core principles: adoption, amplification and action. These offer a path towards establishing an AML culture capable of driving measurable, lasting change across financial organisations.
Adoption marks the starting point for embedding powerful ideas that take hold within a community. True adoption means leaders move beyond generic claims that “automation matters” and instead explore how RegTech solutions enable end-to-end improvements in fraud monitoring, high-risk payment screening and regulatory reporting. By anchoring insights to real operational pressures, from budget constraints at banks to onboarding complexities for crypto exchanges, leaders can help others adopt practices that are both practical and sustainable.
To successfully drive adoption, principles should be firmly grounded in lived industry challenges. Storytelling remains an influential communication tool, helping audiences visualise how AML improvements can transform their day-to-day responsibilities. Ideas must also reflect the context of each financial institution, whether that is building eKYC systems, reducing friction in onboarding journeys, or creating more accurate risk scoring models.
Amplification allows those ideas to travel through the right networks. Real impact is not measured by follower counts, but by whether AML insights reach regulators, policy specialists, risk teams, and compliance leaders capable of amplifying those lessons further. Being quoted in industry panels, referenced in supervisory consultations or acknowledged in trade bodies demonstrates that a message resonates at the right level. Credibility, clarity and relationship-building fuel this stage, encouraging peers to extend those ideas across their own professional circles.
Finally, action remains the deciding factor. The true test of AML thought leadership is whether it motivates real operational or strategic change. This could mean compliance leaders improving transaction monitoring rules following emerging fraud patterns, or an executive team approving investment in more advanced due diligence workflows. The smallest change carries potential for large-scale sector impact, as every incremental improvement helps strengthen the wider financial crime risk landscape.
Attaching insights to practical steps is central to driving effective action, whether through “how-to” guidance on reducing KYC false positives or a list of ways to cut investigation backlogs. AML transformation grows one decision at a time, and acknowledging individual contributions encourages sustained cultural commitment.
As the industry continues to evolve, a renewed call for open, informed conversation is vital. Leaders driving this shift illuminate the challenges and opportunities at stake, strengthening both operational resilience and societal protection. Compliance is more than a regulatory obligation: it is a cultural responsibility that demands clarity, empathy and collective ambition.
Copyright © 2025 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
