FinCrime Spotlight

What can we take away about the reality and lifestyle of those involved in organised crime, from its portrayal in fiction? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Tony to explore all of this, and more, based on the Netflix American crime drama TV series ‘Ozark’. Tony Brown is the Head of Compliance & MLRO at IFX Payments, a Global FinTech that issues digital IBANS to clients requiring treasury management and payments solutions. At IFX he is responsible for advising the group on risk and works closely with the C-Suite to deliver on strategic goals in a sustainable and innovative way.  Tony has 15+ years experience working in financial services, most of which has been spent in regulatory compliance roles and he has a passion for anti-money laundering.

What can we realise about the wider social context of why financial crime takes place, and the personal circumstances one may be in to be forced into criminality? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Matthew to explore all of this, and more, based on the American crime drama television series ‘Breaking Bad’. Matthew Redhead is a researcher and writer on national security and financial crime, and has published several papers on the future of AML/CTF as an Associate Fellow at RUSI. He is also a regular contributor to Jane’s Intelligence Review on serious organised crime, financial crime, terrorism and intelligence. He previously worked in a variety of risk-focused roles in banking, the UK civil service and management consultancy.

From a TV show, what can we learn about how organisations launder funds and evade detection, the bureaucracy and corruption that can be faced along the way, and the negative impact the War on Drugs has had on all its participants? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Meredith to explore all of this, and more, based on the American crime TV series ‘The Wire’. Meredith is a Financial Crime Compliance Senior Manager - Strategy & Advisory at ClearBank. Meredith is an experienced financial crime compliance professional who specialises in designing, enhancing and conducting oversight on AML/CTF and sanctions systems and control frameworks. At ClearBank, Meredith works within the 2LOD to provide advisory on the implementation of anti-financial crime controls and to help drive control evolution to support the bank’s strategic initiatives. Prior to her role at ClearBank, Meredith worked at FINTRAIL as an anti-financial crime consultant, where she led and supported on client engagements across the FinTech, virtual asset, banking and investment sectors, helping firms to build, scale and modernise their financial crime risk management programmes.

What can we learn about the picture film paints of cryptocurrency and its involvement in money laundering? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Gregory to explore all of this, and more, based on the 2019 American crime drama thriller film ‘Crypto’. Gregory Dellas is the Chief Compliance and Innovation Officer at ECOMMBX. Previously, at the Bank of Cyprus, Gregory served as Director Wealth & Markets and spearheaded the AML Risk Management team within International Banking Services, responsible for high-risk clients and transactions and for providing guidance and specialized training to management and staff. Before that he was Group MLRO for Cyprus Popular Bank, and held a number of other senior management positions. Gregory is the founder and Chair of the ACAMS Cyprus Chapter, since 2015. He holds several international professional certifications including CGSS, CAMS (Advanced) - Risk and CAMS (Advanced) – Audit. He is a certified CAMS instructor and GCI accredited trainer, a Fellow of ICA (FICA) and a long-standing member of the AMLP Forum and IGCA. He also holds an MBA from Lancaster University in the UK and a BSC (Hons) Industrial economics from the University of Warwick.

What can we understand about the actions and greed associated to powerful and wealthy people caught up in crime and corruption, from a real life story interpreted to film? Quite a lot, it seems! Gemma Rogers, Co-Founder, FINTRAIL sits down with Matthew to explore all of this, and more, based on the American crime film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and true story of stockbroker Jordan Belfort. Matt is the current Head of Financial Crime Risk at Tide Platform Limited. Tide provides banking services for SMEs and has a current member base of 350,000+ members. Prior to Tide, Matt managed Santander’s Financial Crime Apprenticeship programme, focusing on developing future leaders within the world of Financial Crime. Matt has also held roles at multiple other international organisations such as Barclays and Amazon. Matt has a passion for building Financial Crime teams in a new and innovative way by training them in a way that allows them to engage both the technical and creative parts of their brains to meet the ever changing regulatory environment.