The financial services industry invests huge amounts of resources to tackle financial crime, however the scale and impact of the problem are immense, with criminals continually evolving their capabilities to exploit the existing AML framework. This is because the current regulatory framework is not effective enough to empower financial institutions to combat the continuously evolving networks and tools available to criminals.

Based on interviews with key players from financial institutions and law enforcement as well as policy makers and regulators, this report from Deloitte UK, in conjunction with The Institute of International Finance, The global framework for fighting financial crime, explores seven key areas in financial crime regulation:

1. Global systemic improvements for financial crime risk management
2. Advancing public private partnership
3. Improving cross-border and domestic information sharing
4. Improving the use and quality of data
5. Reforming suspicious activity reporting (SARs)
6. Mitigating the inconsistent or incoherent implementation of financial crime compliance standards and guidance, and providing regulatory clarity
7. Increasing and improving the use of technology to combat illicit finance

This report breaks down these seven areas, providing detailed and achievable recommendations for long-term systemic reform. Taken together, these have the power to offer a way forward on mitigating illicit financial flows through a combination of regulatory reform, international cooperation, and an increasingly intelligence-led approach.