The fight against financial crime is entering a new phase, shaped by rising fraud threats, accelerating AI adoption and a growing political focus on collaboration.
In the first of a new thought leadership series, criminologist Dr Nicola Harding speaks with Taavi Tamkivi, CEO and co-founder of Salv, to reflect on how industry predictions from the 2024 and 2025 editions of the Fincrime Time Machine have played out in reality.
Drawing on insights from practitioners across institutions including Revolut, TransUnion, SEB and Zempler Bank, the discussion explores why revisiting past predictions matters. Taavi makes the case that reflection is not an academic exercise, but a strategic necessity. “We need to analyse more consciously the trends which have happened and which will happen… because ultimately we are the ones designing the future of crime fighting — in terms of policies, procedures, technologies, operations, skills and so on.” Looking back, both he and Nicola note, helps clarify which risks are accelerating and which assumptions have proven misplaced.
One area where expectations shifted dramatically is Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. Taavi admits he initially feared that the rapid rise of scam-related fraud would distract from anti-money laundering (AML) priorities. Instead, the opposite occurred. “When scam fraud started to spike… I was afraid that the money laundering side would lose focus. But actually, what happened was that fraud and AML teams both leaned in. AML didn’t just keep its attention — it gained more.” In his view, “scam fraud is making AML great again” by making the impact of money laundering more visible to the public. “People understand scam fraud,” Taavi says. “Money laundering can feel too distant — but the scam makes it real.”
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