Breaking Down the Walls: Why Your Financial Crime Experts Need to Talk to Each Other

The Problem We All Know 

Historically, financial crime compliance has had a collaboration problem.  

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before - your AML team sits on one side of the office, your fraud investigators work from another floor, KYC specialists operate from their own systems, and sanctions screening happens in its own bubble. How am I doing - sound familiar? 

On paper, distinction and separation can create specialized efficiencies. But, criminals don't organize themselves into neat departmental silos. They don't think, "Today I'll commit AML violations, and tomorrow I'll focus on fraud." 

Instead, they are running integrated criminal enterprises that exploit the gaps between your teams. Meanwhile, you have some of the smartest people in the business - specialists who have spent years learning the “ins and outs” of their particular domain –  working with only half the picture. 

Why Silos Made Sense (And Why They Don't Anymore) 

Let's be honest about why we ended up here.   

Specialization works. Your AML analysts know transaction patterns like the back of their hand. Your KYC specialists can spot a fake document from a mile away. Your fraud investigators understand behavioral red flags that would take years for someone else to learn. That expertise is valuable, and you don't want to lose it. 

The problem isn't the specialization -  it's the isolation. 

Think about it this way: you wouldn't ask your cardiologist to perform brain surgery, but you would definitely want them to talk to your neurologist if you had both heart and brain issues.  

The same principle applies to financial crime. 

What Happens When Teams Actually Work Together 

We are seeing some fascinating results when institutions break down these walls. Not by eliminating specialist roles, but by creating ways for specialists to share what they know. 

Take Fraud and AML -  this one is becoming pretty obvious now, but it hasn't always been. Fraud is often the opening act for money laundering, or predicate offense. Someone might compromise an account through social engineering, then use it to move dirty money. When fraud teams flag the account takeover (ATO) and immediately share that intelligence with AML, the money laundering scheme can be spotted much faster. 

Consider KYC and sanctions screening - a customer might pass basic sanctions checks during onboarding, but KYC specialists uncover beneficial ownership structures or geographic connections that trigger enhanced sanctions monitoring, or possibly a money laundering scheme.  When that information flows to sanctions teams in real-time, you catch things that would otherwise slip through and cause more pain and work down the road.  

When you put all your major compliance team pieces on the same board, it’s easier to play to your strengths, in this case, allowing you to more proactively identify and combat illicit financial crime throughout your program. 

The Technology Piece 

Everyone talks about AI being the great solution. And while it is an incredible augmentation, it’s far from being the silver bullet it's made out to be.  

While it has had positive impacts across the financial compliance space andhe technology that actually works, more often  is the boring stuff that helps your experts do their jobs better.  

• Shared case management systems that let your AML analyst flag something for the fraud team.  

• Data platforms that give your KYC specialist access to sanctions intelligence when they're doing enhanced due diligence.  
• Communication tools that connect the right experts when a case crosses domains. 

The key element in this new equation, is how technology can amplify human expertise rather than replace it. Your specialists have years of training and experience that no algorithm can replicate. Coupled with specific applied technologies, you help them share that expertise more effectively, and allow them to focus more on the nuanced, complex, and creative threats posed by bad actors. 

Real Challenges  

Challenge #1: Information Overload 

Nobody wins when they’re forced to drink from the fire hose. If you suddenly start sending your fraud team every AML alert and vice versa, you're just creating more noise.  

The Fix: Smart filtering and routing. Set up systems that surface relevant cross-functional intelligence to the right people, at the right time. Create escalation protocols so specialists know when to pull in expertise from other teams, and look for ways to optimize this over time. Trends change, criminals pivot - so should your information sharing processes.  

Challenge #2: Different Languages 

AML professionals are fluent in SARs and CTRs, fraud investigators discuss synthetic identities and account takeovers. KYC specialists focus on beneficial ownership and PEPs, and sanctions teams live in the world of SDNs and blocked persons. While there are many exceptions today with staff that are cross-trained, the premise still holds. 

The Fix: It’s not feasible to try and make everyone learn all the languages. Instead, create translation layers and shared vocabularies for the areas where you know your teams will overlap. Increased cross-training sessions can help as well, just be sure to keep them focused and practical.  

Challenge #3: Regulatory Complexity 

Different functions operate under different rules. You can't just merge everything and hope for the best. There are many examples where financial institutions have tried combining  fraud and aml (actually coined the phrase “framl”) without much success. 

 The Fix: Work with your legal and compliance teams to map out exactly what information can be shared, and equally as important, how that would work. Create clear protocols that preserve regulatory requirements while enabling collaboration. For example, where will the final SAR filing of the institution be housed? 

Final Thoughts

Creating an environment where your experts can do what they do best, while also having access to intelligence and insights from across your financial crime program just seems logical. 

You will know you are getting this right when:  

• Your specialists are actively seeking input from other functions on complex cases 

• Case resolution times improve because investigators have access to better intelligence 

• You start catching sophisticated schemes that span multiple compliance areas 

• Your specialists are developing broader perspectives while maintaining their core expertise 
• Regulatory examiners start commenting positively on your integrated approach 

The institutions that have this figured out, and can create effective collaboration without sacrificing specialist expertise, are the ones that will stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated financial criminals. 

Your specialists are your most valuable asset. The question is, are you giving them the tools and information they need to be as effective as possible?

You can bet criminals are depending on those gaps between your teams – they just need you to keep them open a little bit longer. Are you ready to shut the door yet?