The benefits of intelligence sharing in fighting financial crime are well recognised. Across borders and between institutions, collaboration helps to identify fraud earlier, recover stolen funds faster, and dismantle criminal networks more effectively.
Regulations now allow it, the technology is in place to make it secure, and industry consortiums are setting standards. Yet many financial institutions remain reluctant to fully embrace it, claims Salv.
After years of working with over 100 institutions across Europe through Salv Bridge, one clear pattern has emerged: the real barrier is not legal or technical. It is cultural. Institutions often cite regulations or system gaps as reasons for hesitation, but in practice, these obstacles have already been addressed. What remains is a mindset issue within organisations themselves.
Banks and FinTechs operate in highly regulated environments where reputational risk is significant. Their cautious stance is understandable. But the belief that intelligence sharing is legally impossible has become outdated. Both the UK and EU now provide clear frameworks for compliant information exchange. The EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation, the forthcoming Payment Services Directive (PSD3), and the UK’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 all establish structured, auditable processes for collaboration. Not only is sharing permitted — it is encouraged, and soon it will be required.
Technological barriers have also been removed. Salv has already supported thousands of investigations on its Bridge platform, offering encryption, access controls, standardised templates, and audit logs. These tools work in practice, not just in theory. When banks say they are not ready, it is usually because of deeper institutional hesitations rather than the absence of compliant technology.
The real challenge lies in internal uncertainty. Senior compliance leaders may agree in principle, but uncertainty arises over how to secure internal legal approval, how data protection officers will respond, or how to adjust existing processes. In large organisations, there is little incentive to be the first to test new regulatory interpretations. As a result, informal channels like WhatsApp groups or personal calls often substitute for formal, secure systems.
Change, however, is possible. Salv has witnessed how culture shifts once leadership signals its backing. In Estonia, when bank CEOs openly supported intelligence sharing, progress accelerated rapidly, setting an example others followed. Shared spaces, such as in-person community sessions involving regulators, also build trust. Participants discover that their peers face the same hurdles and can learn from one another’s approaches to compliance protocols and intelligence response.
Momentum is building across Europe. PSD3 and AMLA’s rulebook are on the horizon, and regulators are clear in their direction. But the frameworks will not make a difference without institutional action. For chief risk officers, heads of compliance, and senior executives, the task now is to examine whether hesitation comes from laws or from culture — and to consider the operational and reputational benefits of leading the change.
When institutions move from hesitation to collaboration, the impact is immediate. Victims are safeguarded, losses are reduced, and criminal networks are weakened. More importantly, the professionals working on financial crime prevention can see the tangible, human outcomes of their efforts. Culture may be the hardest obstacle to overcome, but it is also the most important.
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