Financial crime in Australia: Key trends for 2023
Financial crime negatively influences the community’s economy and does not go unpunished. It denies the region financing for necessary services, including infrastructure, healthcare, and education. Financial fraud has a substantial direct influence on both people and corporations.
Like other offences, financial crimes vary in scope, character, and degree of harm. They are frequently designed to combine legitimate and unlawful dealings and payments, making it challenging to determine the full extent of criminal operations.
Financial fraud threats from Australia or elsewhere are made possible by mediators and technology. When people commit financial crimes, they typically misrepresent or conceal the true nature of their transactions, assets, or ownership of entities.
This insight looks at the major 2023 financial crime trends for businesses in Australia.
Financial crime trends in Australia
The following trends are shaping today’s financial landscape:
Ransomware activities are diversifying
One of the biggest security problems for businesses throughout the world is ransomware, which has quickly gained traction. A varied, illicit economy has emerged in the shadows of threat actors targeting enterprises with harmful software, flattening the structure of the criminal groups responsible for the attacks.
For every given ransomware family, an infinite number of different threat actors use a wide range of strategies, from low-skill sophisticated attacks, to chains that use zero-day vulnerabilities. Now, the thieves breaking into your network might not be the same ones releasing ransomware.
Financial fraud and scams continue to evolve
Australians lost a record sum of more than $2 billion to scams in 2021, according to the ACCC’s Scamwatch. Australians are still susceptible to investment scams, which account for the greatest loss category and cost them more than $242 million in the first half of 2022.
Scams are made possible by a wide variety of technology. Bank transfers accounted for the majority of scam payments in 2021, with $129 million in losses reported to Scamwatch. Scamwatch received 4,730 reports of scams involving cryptocurrency investments, with claimed losses of $99 million.
What financial crime compliance teams should know
Financial fraud threats from Australia or elsewhere are made possible by mediators and technology. Financial crime compliance teams should do the following to prevent financial crime:
- Report suspicious transactions.
- Educate workforce on risks and risk policies.
- Analyse payments for potential financial crime activities.
- Make procedures to measure and properly manage risks.
- Perform due diligence while bringing a customer onboard.
- Review and analyse the program after spotting anomalies.
- Know the whole financial crime risk atmosphere in Australia and other markets.
- Perform ongoing due diligence on an appropriate schedule, or if risk conditions change.
- Understanding the nature of your organisation’s business and specific risks to operations.
Major financial crime compliance needs
Businesses operating in Australia need to stay vigilant about shaping the financial crime compliance landscape in 2023. Here are the leading financial crime and compliance trends to watch in 2023:
- Instant payments will require instant monitoring and analysis.
- Focus on crypto crime prevention and regulatory scrutiny will surge.
- SWIFT migration to ISO20022 standard will drive improved screening.
- Adoption of data and AI solutions for financial crime compliance will grow.
- Financial crime compliance will include industries beyond financial services.
How contingent teams can help compliance teams
The contingent workforce can help fill key talent gaps whether it is the great resignation or the great layoff. Compliance teams are leaner, but threats will be stronger in 2023. You can expect a lot from financial crime compliance teams in terms of new trends and regulations. They have up-to-date compliance knowledge and hands-on experience of running compliance operations for a company in the same industry.
Momenta’s contingent teams for compliance
How a contingent team of professionals can help in financial crime regulations compliance? Contingent workforce helps financial crime teams alleviate the regulatory pressures as well as new threats on them. Momenta Group is here to solve traditional issues in the current financial crime regulatory environment. Our thirty years plus experience in the market makes us the most suitable choice. By providing experienced and competent professionals that have worked in a variety of industries, Momenta can solve compliance issues of small and large companies.
With more than 30 years of global experience within the Financial Services industry you can be assured of our ability to provide a complete cost-effective solution or specific components to compliment your current capabilities and skill set.
Our team members are seasoned, client-focused experts with the sensitivity and empathy necessary to manage claims and understand how businesses and people alike have been affected by natural disasters.
Depending on the needs of the project, Momenta can scale resource requirements up or down as necessary.
Works Cited
Dasgupta, Sujata. “ACFCS Special Contributor Report: AML & FinCrime Compliance – Top 5 Trends to Watch in 2023, from Corporates Adopting AML-Lite to Crypto Crime, Oversight and More.” Www.acfcs.org, 22 Dec. 2022, www.acfcs.org/acfcs-special-contributor-report-aml-fincrime-compliance-top-5-trends-to-watch-in-2023-from-corporates-adopting-aml-lite-to-cryptocrime-oversight-and-more. Accessed 7 Jan. 2023.
“Financial Crime.” Ato.gov.au, 2022, www.ato.gov.au/General/The-fight-against-tax-crime/Our-focus/Financial-crime/?=redirected_financialcrime#:~:text=Indications%20of%20financial%20crime. Accessed 5 Jan. 2023.
“Financial Crime and Investigations | Deloitte Australia | Our Services and Solutions | Financial Advisory.” Deloitte Australia, www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/finance/solutions/financial-crime.html. Accessed 6 Jan. 2023.
Mainez, Francisco. “7 Compliance & Financial Crime Trends for 2023 – Lucinity.” Www.lucinity.com, 9 Dec. 2022, www.lucinity.com/blog/7-aml-trends. Accessed 7 Jan. 2023.
Miralis, Dennis, et al. “Financial Crime in Australia: Overview.” Practical Law, uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/w-009-8659?transitionType=Default&%3BcontextData=%28sc.Default%29&%3BfirstPage=true&contextData=%28sc.Default%29. Accessed 6 Jan. 2023.
Thompson, William. “5 Financial Crime Trends to Watch in 2023.” ComplyAdvantage, 23 Dec. 2022, complyadvantage.com/insights/5-financial-crime-trends-to-watch-in-2023/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2023.
