I’m excited to announce a huge milestone for Acuminor today: Stephen Ball, who joined us as Chief Commercial Officer in September last year, will be taking on the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Having founded Acuminor in 2018 alongside my co-founding team, and having served as CEO ever since, I’ll remain a part of the executive team. My new role will be focused on building closer ties with regulators, law enforcement, and the anti-financial crime community.
Since the company’s inception six years ago, our mission has always been to create a brighter world by reducing the harm caused by financial crime.
Over the last few years we’ve made great strides towards achieving that goal: we’ve worked with some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, built the industry’s most actionable financial crime threat library, and are now used by over 500 businesses across Europe to better manage their risks.
But the fight against financial crime is a global one, and to truly make a difference, we need to put ourselves in the best possible position for growth and international expansion. Stephen brings with him a wealth of experience that will help us achieve that.
He has a track record of scaling high-growth financial crime and compliance businesses, including ComplyAdvantage, an AI-driven fraud & AML risk detection platform, Contingent, a supply chain risk management platform, and Ebury, a payments FinTech. He also managed client relationships at Bain & Company Inc., where he saw the financial crime and regulatory challenges firms faced from the inside.
Helping more businesses combat financial crime
Stephen’s appointment is part of a wider strategy that includes building out our sales and marketing teams, expanding geographically, and developing new products to address a broader set of anti-financial crime pain points.
By doubling down on growth over the coming months, we’ll be able to help more institutions across the world identify the threats that are relevant to their operations, accurately assess the level of risk they’re exposed to, and introduce mitigation strategies that actually work.
The current geopolitical uncertainty, along with the increasing sophistication of illicit activities mean that organizations need to make decisions based on objective facts, rather than gut feeling, which has been the status quo in the market to date.
Many teams also face demands to increase productivity, while at the same time having to justify every penny they spend.
I strongly believe that by using Acuminor’s platform, which combines intelligence curated by experts with advanced technology and machine learning, they’ll be able to meet those demands, without sacrificing either business growth or compliance.
Building closer ties with the anti-financial crime community
In my new role, I’ll be working with regulators, law enforcement, and the industry to strengthen our collective defenses against the harmful effects of financial crime.
Due to the ever-evolving nature of financial crime, having strong connections to both the organizations that shape regulations and those that are tasked with eliminating financial crime in business and society is essential. It will help us develop our existing platform and create new products that are built in line with what the market actually needs.
I believe that Stephen’s appointment is an exciting step forward for Acuminor and brings a fresh perspective while helping us stay true to our mission. With his experience in scaling fast-growing businesses and my deep understanding of law making, law enforcement, and banking, we're in a strong position to transform the way the world tackles financial crime.