European banks are ramping up spending on the fight against financial crime, after a wave of money-laundering scandals on the continent.
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However, industry insiders betray little optimism about the impact it will have on crime, let alone on banks’ reputations.
Rob Wainwright, a former head of Europol now working at Deloitte, gives a typical assessment: “Banks are spending more and more on anti-money laundering (AML) staff and technology over the past 10 years, but the problem of financial crime in the system as a whole is arguably not getting any better.”
A public-private partnership developed in the UK during the past three years is a rare point of enthusiasm. Some see it as a model for other European countries. Europol has even pushed for an EU-wide version, in part thanks to Wainwright’s legacy – he left the agency last year.
