Panel discussion at Sibos 2025
“Criminals are always one step ahead because they don’t have to follow the rules.”
Lisa van Bussel calls for cross-border detection of financial crime
Lisa van Bussel, Managing Director of cleversoft Forensics, shared insights into financial crime at this year’s Sibos on 1 October 2025 during the panel event ‘Smart transaction monitoring using AI for payment anomalies’. She emphasised that effectively preventing financial crime requires more smart data, a holistic approach, better international cooperation and clear rules for dealing with data protection and fraud prevention.
Her key statements were:
Why do criminals often have the upper hand in the fight against financial institutions?
Lisa van Bussel: “Because they don’t have to follow any rules. Financial institutions, on the other hand, operate within a strict regulatory framework – such as the GDPR. Although these regulations protect against data misuse, they also set limits on how institutions can pursue fraud. As a result, criminals are often one step ahead.”
What role does artificial intelligence play in financial crime?
Lisa van Bussel: “Unfortunately, artificial intelligence is also being used by criminals to develop more sophisticated fraud models – especially in combination with stolen data. On the other hand, financial institutions urgently need AI to detect anomalies in huge transaction flows. The larger and better connected the database is, the more effectively suspicious patterns can be uncovered.”
What are the biggest challenges in fighting money laundering and fraud?
Lisa van Bussel: “On the one hand, in data exchange: within banks, there are often silos between fraud, KYC and AML teams, which complicates the overview. On the other hand, there is a lack of international standards. Crime does not stop at national borders, but systems do. This makes it difficult to trace transactions from start to finish. We urgently need more interoperability here.”
How can the balancing act between data protection and effective fraud prevention be mastered?
Lisa van Bussel: “The key is balance. The GDPR pursues important goals, but at the same time we need more clarity on the extent to which data may be used to detect and combat financial crime. We need to create common standards that ensure both the protection of citizens and the ability of institutions to act. Only then can we effectively reduce financial crime.”