Insights Archive

Acuminor News

19 Mar 2025 • 1 min read

Acuminor at Penningtvättsdagarna 2025

Martin, Rob and Andrea were at thePenningtvättsdagarnaconference in Stockholm a few days ago, along with many old and new industry colleagues! Martin had the opportunity to talk on stage about how...

Acuminor News

10 Mar 2025 • 2 min read

How sexual exploitation of children online for profit (CSAM) could be detected with AI

In a very windy Stockholm, my dear co-founderAndrea Sandlundand I had the privilege to join an extremely important discussion at theWorld Childhood Foundation, together with representatives from the...

Acuminor News

13 Feb 2025 • 1 min read

Acuminor at Stockholm Fintech Week

Acuminor's CEO Martin Nordh just had the privilege to moderate the panel “Outsmarting the Enemy: How Financial Crime Fighters Are Battling a New Breed of Criminals” at Stockholm Fintech Week. Some...

Acuminor News

10 Dec 2024 • 3 min read

Acuminor at Ny Teknik AML Tech 2024

On stage was our CEO Martin Nordh, covering intelligence as a method to unlock real value in the risk-based approach. Intelligence is used more and more extensively in larger financial institutions,...

Acuminor News

15 Nov 2024 • 3 min read

Insights from the AMLP Forum 2024

At this year’s AMLP Forum in London, one session that drew a lot of attention was the "Regulatory & Policy Roundtable," where current activities and strategic priorities in AML supervision were...

Acuminor News

21 Oct 2024 • 1 min read

Financial crime in the real estate sector - Acuminor featured in Swedish television

Our CEO Martinis back in the media, this time helping Swedish national television to investigate financial crime within the real estate sector:

Acuminor News

02 Oct 2024 • 2 min read

Acuminor CEO moderates regulatory panel at AMLP Forum's annual conference

Our CEOMartin Nordhwill be moderating a regulatory roundtable discussion at theAMLP Forum's 18th Annual European AML & Financial Crime Conference in London, 11-12 November 2024. The roundtable...

Acuminor News

The state of financial crime

02 Oct 2024 • 1 min read

Acuminor submits response to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Acuminor recently submitted a response to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Public Consultation on National Risk Assessment Guidance. To summarize: Our analysis show that on average, only 3% of...

Compliance

Sweden

Acuminor News

12 Sep 2024 • 1 min read

Acuminor CEO Martin Nordh in the news on potential regulatory action towards fintech giant Klarna

Swedish regulator Finansinspektionen's preliminary findings related to failings inKlarna’s anti-financial crime framework raise some interesting questions about how to ensure compliance while rapidly...

Sanction Violations

USA

03 Apr 2024 • 8 min read

Lessons from the U.S.: A review of OFAC public enforcement actions

Last month saw the publication of a Tri-Seal Compliance Note from the U.S. Departments of the Treasury, Commerce, and Justice, reminding foreign institutions to take seriously the impacts of U.S....

Europe

Germany

06 Mar 2024 • 6 min read

There's a new watchdog in town, but how fierce is it going to be?

In a landmark decision in February 2024, the European Union (EU) chose Frankfurt, Germany, as the home for its newly established anti-money laundering authority, AMLA. This move is more than just a...

The state of financial crime

02 Feb 2024 • 5 min read

The world's spinning faster: geopolitics and financial crime in 2024

As we enter 2024, the intersection of geopolitics and financial crime is more complex than ever. This era, characterized by rapid and significant shifts on the global stage, could have profound...

Risk Assessment

United Kingdom

23 Jan 2024 • 9 min read

Regulatory penalties in 2023: common compliance challenges

Preventing the use of the legitimate financial system to launder the proceeds of crime continues to be a priority area for the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).1 As an authorized firm, you’re...

Risk Assessment

Blog post

08 Nov 2023 • 5 min read

The business-wide risk assessment's ability to orchestrate soloists and harmonise risk management

Introduction In the world of risk management and financial crime prevention, orchestrating an effective financial crime defence strategy is essential to maintaining the integrity and stability of a...

Risk Assessment

16 Oct 2023 • 9 min read

Diagnosing the state of financial crime effectiveness, identifying the vitamins needed

In this blog I discuss the hangovers experienced by financial crime professionals; the drivers behind the symptoms; and whether the industry needs more painkillers (controls) or instead a more...

proliferation financing

10 Oct 2023 • 5 min read

Cracking down on proliferation financing: key considerations for financial institutions

Since 11 th August 2022, the UK’s MLRs have required regulated entities to consider proliferation financing (PF) via their business-wide risk assessments and downstream control frameworks. This...

Intelligence Update

02 Oct 2023 • 2 min read

Intelligence Insights – An update from our Intelligence Team Q3 – 2023

Intelligence

Acuminor Reports

20 Sep 2023 • 2 min read

Proliferation financing and the private sector: keeping pace with expectations

The need to raise awareness and understanding of proliferation financing (PF) in the private sector is urgent. Three years ago, FATF amended its Standards to require financial institutions and...

Blog post

03 Aug 2023 • 4 min read

Why does a financial crime taxonomy need to be built from the bottom up?

I have had some super interesting discussions about building a financial crime taxonomy over the last few months, and one question all of these conversations have raised is - can you build a...

Risk Assessment

Money Laundering

Terrorist Financing

Blog post

31 Jul 2023 • 10 min read

How competent authorities can enhance their risk assessments

Background and Purpose The European Banking Authority (EBA) have recently published a report assessing the AML/CFT supervision approach of twelve Competent Authorities (CAs) [EBA/REP/2023/20]....

Acuminor Reports

31 Jul 2023 • 1 min read

A Threat-Led Approach to Financial Crime Prevention

Threats occur in the real-world, they involve real people – perpetrators, victims, enablers, insiders - and many other people and objects that get caught up as collateral damage.

Intelligence Update

03 Jul 2023 • 2 min read

Intelligence Insights – An update from our Intelligence Team Q2 – 2023

Intelligence

Risk Assessment

Blog post

20 Jun 2023 • 3 min read

Reimagining Financial Crime Risk Assessments: How Acuminor's Risk Assessment Platform Saved a ...

In the ever-evolving financial landscape, a small national bank in the Nordics found a trailblazing solution to handle the complex demands of financial crime risk assessments - Acuminor's Risk...

Blog post

19 Jun 2023 • 2 min read

Fincrime threat and risk management: a case of doing the right thing?

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment Pro

Blog post

12 Jun 2023 • 3 min read

Leveraging risk assessments for customer satisfaction

In the complex and fast-paced financial environment of today, financial crime is a daunting challenge that threatens the stability, reputation, and economic health of banks and other financial...

Blog post

12 Jun 2023 • 2 min read

Unlocking profitability: The power of Dynamic Risk Assessments for Commercial Success

A dynamic financial crime risk assessment can benefit financial institutions commercially in many ways: Enhanced risk management : By adopting a dynamic financial crime risk assessment, financial...

ThreatView

Human Trafficking

Blog post

11 Jun 2023 • 2 min read

World Day Against Child Labour: Why it matters

Every year on June 12th, the world observes World Day against Child Labour, a day to raise awareness and take action to end the exploitation of millions of children who work under hazardous and...

Blog post

07 Jun 2023 • 7 min read

UK consultation on revisions to corporate governance

Risk Assessment

Compliance

Blog post

30 May 2023 • 3 min read

The future of fincrime compliance: threat and risk analysis

As financial ecosystems become more interconnected and complex, complying with regulatory demands and actively preventing financial crimes has become a monumental task for financial institutions. As...

Risk Assessment

Blog post

29 May 2023 • 6 min read

Responding to threats: start with understanding and assessment.

Acuminor Reports

11 Apr 2023 • 1 min read

The case for a standardised taxonomy for economic crime

A threat-matrix should be a dynamic guiding document, one that allows you to understand how criminality perpetrates your organisation and what actions you could take to prevent it. However, it is...

United Kingdom

Blog post

05 Apr 2023 • 5 min read

UK's Economic Crime Plan '23-'26: tackling illicit economic activities

Background

Intelligence Update

03 Apr 2023 • 4 min read

An update from our intelligence team Q1 2023

Intelligence During the first quarter of 2023, Acuminor has published 12 releases of new data models accessible within our products, containing content and analysis across international, European and...

Risk Assessment

Blog post

08 Feb 2023 • 5 min read

Do More with Less: Business Wide Risk Assessment

In the current challenging economic environment, many institutions will be reviewing their spending and will try to make sure that every cent is being invested wisely. Meanwhile, history tells us...

Terrorist Financing

Acuminor Reports

01 Feb 2023 • 2 min read

Detecting the financing of right-wing extremism

Combatting Terrorism Financing: Right Wing Extremism Emerges as Priority, But Detection Remains a Challenge

Acuminor Reports

24 Jan 2023 • 1 min read

Building societies: evolution, challenges and opportunities

Building societies are doing a lot to evolve to become more digitally focused – which brings unique challenges when it comes to fighting financial crime.

Intelligence Update

09 Jan 2023 • 2 min read

Intelligence Insights – An update from our Intelligence Team Q4 – 2022

During the fourth quarter of 2022, Acuminor has published five releases of new data models accessible within our products, containing content and analysis across international, European and domestic...

Weekly Round-Up

01 Dec 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 28 nov- 2 dec- 22

December! The end of the year is closing in, and we are planning to get an excellent start in 2023. Since crime takes a pause for holidays and vacations, neither do we. Here are some of the...

Weekly Round-Up

24 Nov 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 21-25 Nov-22

We are nearing the end of November, the fraud awareness month, and I hope you have managed to dodge the fraud bullets and continue to stay safe when we soon head into the holiday season, which also...

Acuminor News

23 Nov 2022 • 1 min read

Financial Crime Frameworks Examined - An intelligence-led approach

On Wednesday 14 th of December Reg Tech Associates will host the webinar “Financial Crime Frameworks Examined - An intelligence-led approach” together with Acuminor.

Acuminor Reports

17 Nov 2022 • 1 min read

BEC fraud: a growing concern for business

International Fraud Awareness Week seeks to promote anti-fraud education, detection and prevention. Following closely on the heels of European Cyber Security Month, the two awareness campaigns make...

Weekly Round-Up

17 Nov 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 14-18 Nov- 22

Friday again after a fantastic week across the Acuminor offices, and we a slowly moving into the winter season. As often, we have sifted through a wide arrange of reporting across the globe. Here are...

Weekly Round-Up

10 Nov 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 7-11 Nov -22

It is time to round up the hectic week that has passed. So here are some of the highlights that have piqued our interest.

Blog post

08 Nov 2022 • 10 min read

An attacker's toolbox – Social Engineering

Many have heard of phishing , vishing , and smishing , terms which have flourished to describe the ways in which people are tricked into sharing their personal information. These attack techniques...

Weekly Round-Up

03 Nov 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up 31 Oct- 4 Nov -22

Happy Friday, everyone. Here are some highlights from the past week's information flow

Weekly Round-Up

27 Oct 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up 24-28th Oct-22

Welcome to this round-up of financial crime-related news this autumn week. Here are some of the highlights we have picked out from the past week's information flow.

Weekly Round-Up

20 Oct 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 17-21 Oct -22

It's been a beautiful autumn week here in the north, and here are some highlights from this week's information harvest. Let's jump straight into some updates from the Law enforcement community.

Acuminor Reports

16 Oct 2022 • 2 min read

Paved With Good Intentions

Too often, NPOs face a myriad of obstacles when trying to obtain access to bank accounts and carrying out transactions making their daily work (almost) impossible. If any advice is forthcoming at...

Weekly Round-Up

13 Oct 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 10-14 Oct-22

It's Friday, and we are amid cyber security awareness month. I first thought that everything we would see in our information coverage would be saturated with cyber threats. Still, this week has...

Weekly Round-Up

06 Oct 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 3-7 Oct-22

The colourful autumn has arrived, and the sunshine is rapidly disappearing in these high north regions. There is also an ongoing energy crisis, making heating houses and keeping your artificial...

Intelligence Update

03 Oct 2022 • 1 min read

Intelligence Insights – An update from our Intelligence Team Q3 – 2022

During the third quarter of 2022, Acuminor has published eleven releases of new data models accessible within our products, containing content and analysis across international, European and domestic...

Weekly Round-Up

29 Sep 2022 • 1 min read

Weekly Round-Up 26-30 Sept-22

The USA Department of Justice has indicted a Russian oligarch and associates for sanctions evasion and obstruction of justice.

Weekly Round-Up

22 Sep 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 19-23 Sept- 22

We officially hit a new yearly season last night when we passed the autumnal equinox, which turns the days quickly darker, fast, here in the Nordics. However, at Acuminor, the mood is on top. Here...

Acuminor News

18 Sep 2022 • 1 min read

Live event Stockholm 15 sept-22

Autumn is here and we are very happy to kickstart it with live seminar events.

Weekly Round-Up

15 Sep 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up 12-16 Sept-22

It’s time for the weekly roundup from our story corner. Among the articles and reports that have flown passed us this week, here are some highlights,

Weekly Round-Up

08 Sep 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 5-9 Sept- 22

Another week has flown by, and we are busy, as always, working on our great pipeline of tech and content and welcoming new great colleges into our teams. Here are some news highlights from the week...

Weekly Round-Up

01 Sep 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 29 Aug-2 Sept-22

Autumn is at the doorstep here in Sweden with some crisp air rolling in, and nature’s colour shift has begun. As often, it is a mixed bag of news and write-ups that has passed our desks this week and...

Weekly Round-Up

25 Aug 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up 22-26 August-22

Another week has soon passed and there has been a quite wide arrange of topics that has flown passed our desks. Here are some of the stories you can dig into over the weekend if you fancy some...

Weekly Round-Up

18 Aug 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 15-19th August-22

The summer is still ongoing here in Scandinavia, and a few of us are still enjoying vacations, but here at Acuminor, it is as busy as always. It seems that crime does not have a holiday schedule.

Acuminor News

15 Aug 2022 • 2 min read

Seminar: the unintended consequences of terrorist financing on NPOs

Welcome to Acuminor ‘s seminar – The unintended consequence of terrorist financing controls on NPO’s on September 15th.

Acuminor News

11 Aug 2022 • 1 min read

Acuminor’s Financial Crime Summer Book Tip- Money Men ‘A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A ...

Book review by Ali Hassan.

Acuminor News

04 Aug 2022 • 2 min read

Acuminor’s Financial Crime Summer Book Tip – Taking Down Backpage

Book review by Stephanie Ygoa.

Acuminor News

28 Jul 2022 • 1 min read

Acuminor’s Financial Crime Summer Book Tip – My Italians

Book review by Mara Wesseling.

Acuminor News

21 Jul 2022 • 1 min read

Acuminor’s Financial Crime Summer Book Tip – Billion Dollar Whale

Title and author; Billion Dollar Whale

Acuminor News

14 Jul 2022 • 1 min read

Acuminor’s Financial Crime Summer Book Tip – Kleptopia

Title and author; Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World

Acuminor News

07 Jul 2022 • 2 min read

Acuminor’s Financial Crime summer book tip

The summer annual leave is approaching and with that we would like to give a weekly summer book tip on the FinCrime topic. First out is our colleague: Mara Wesseling

Money Laundering

Fraud

Acuminor Reports

05 Jul 2022 • 4 min read

Liability for AML breaches: lessons from the regulatory landscape

Last week, Switzerland’s top criminal court delivered a landmark verdict in the country’s first criminal trial against a major lender. The bank was found guilty of having failed to prevent money...

Intelligence Update

30 Jun 2022 • 2 min read

Intelligence Insights: an update from our intelligence team Q2 2022

Acuminors’ financial crime database is being continually updated by our own intelligence team. Our experts leverage experience from law enforcement, government and academia across several...

Risk Assessment

Blog post

19 Jun 2022 • 5 min read

Top 5 pain points for financial crime risk assessments

Over the last year, Acuminor have spoken to hundreds of regulated institutions about their financial crime risk assessments.

Human Trafficking

Acuminor Reports

19 Jun 2022 • 10 min read

Ukrainian refugees and the human trafficking crisis: the role of the financial sector

Trafficking in human beings (THB) often emerges as a corollary of war. It is well-established that human traffickers perceive opportunity in the midst of turmoil, and actively seek to capitalise on...

Weekly Round-Up

16 Jun 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up report 13-17 June

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

14 Jun 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 25-29 April-22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

09 Jun 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 6 June -10 June -22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

02 Jun 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 30 May – 3 June – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Blog post

23 May 2022 • 6 min read

Correspondent Banking and how it can be misused

What is Correspondent Banking? The Wolfsberg Group defines Correspondent Banking as: “the provision of a current or other liability account, and related services, to another financial institution,...

Blog post

23 May 2022 • 2 min read

UK de-risking – The impact on legitimate business

So, you’re running an awesome company and want to expand to the UK. Makes sense, it’s still the financial hub of Europe despite Brexit and all that. So, you set things up: A UK Limited company, tax...

Weekly Round-Up

19 May 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up 16 – 20 May – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Acuminor News

17 May 2022 • 2 min read

Acuminor partners with Change Gap

Acuminor are delighted to announce that we are partnering with Change Gap, to accelerate adoption of RegTech, and improving the outcomes in reducing financial crime.

Weekly Round-Up

12 May 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 9 – 13 May 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

05 May 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up 2-6 May – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Blog post

27 Apr 2022 • 7 min read

Public Private Partnerships… What are they good for?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, ‘public private partnerships (PPPs) in the anti-money laundering (AML) sector need to be improved’. Or perhaps this one, ‘PPPs need to do more’. These...

Weekly Round-Up

21 Apr 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 18 – 22 April – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Money Laundering

Terrorist Financing

Blog post

20 Apr 2022 • 4 min read

Financial and social inclusion at risk due to blanket de-risking

On the 5th of January 2022 the European Banking Authority (EBA) published their opinion on de-risking (EBA/Op/2022/01). The EBA is taking a critical stance towards the de-risking strategies used by...

Weekly Round-Up

07 Apr 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 4 – 8 April – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

31 Mar 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 28 March – 1 April -22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Money Laundering

Counterfeiting

Weekly Round-Up

24 Mar 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 21-25 March – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

17 Mar 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 14 – 18 March – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Intelligence Update

15 Mar 2022 • 1 min read

Intelligence Insights – An update from our Intelligence Team Q1 – 2022

Acuminors’ financial crime database is being continually updated by our own Intelligence Team. Our experts leverage experience from law enforcement, government and academia across several...

Money Laundering

Environmental crime

Acuminor Reports

15 Mar 2022 • 7 min read

The Contextual Dilemma in Financial Crime

How important is environmental crime in developing effective AML risk indicators and controls We don’t really care about the environment in the financial crime industry!

14 Mar 2022 • 2 min read

Raising capital is pretty intense

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. As a founder you must run your business while spending most of your time talking with investors. In our case we are fortunate to have five founders and an...

Weekly Round-Up

10 Mar 2022 • 3 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 7 – 11 March – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Weekly Round-Up

03 Mar 2022 • 4 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 28 Feb – 4 March -22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .

Acuminor News

17 Feb 2022 • 2 min read

We're getting ready to scale with Zenith Group and Edastra

Press release: With the Swedish investment companies Zenith Group and Edastra at the helm, Acuminor is now raising just over SEK 19 million. The investment enables Acuminor to focus on further...

Blog post

13 Feb 2022 • 3 min read

The spider's web of threat detection: which threats you are catching?

When I think about transaction monitoring rules, I like to imagine a mess of spider’s webs – overlapping and tangled together. The webs are so large and tangled that they catch many flies, more than...

Money Laundering

Compliance

Terrorist Financing

Blog post

13 Feb 2022 • 1 min read

Pliance x Acuminor – Seminar Summary

Before Christmas we hosted a seminar together with one of our partners, Pliance , at Norrsken House in Stockholm. The topic was “Financial crime regulations – cost or opportunity for FinTech’s in the...

Weekly Round-Up

10 Feb 2022 • 2 min read

Weekly Round-Up, 7 – 11 February, 21

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView® .