Leadership in the world of anti-money laundering
On 7 June 2021, I was presented with a LinkedIn notification which informed me a group of AML & KYC Leaders had welcomed its 7000th member. “Wow”, I commented and added, “No soldiers?” Obviously, there is no AML & KYC soldier group, because on this social media-business dating App, we project a more flattering image of ourselves. Of course, there are 1000s of AML and KYC soldiers, after all the management of these two disciplines has become a body count business and consequently there are some vast AML and KYC armies out there.
Back to these leaders, I pondered, who are they? Where are they? Am I one of them? I wasn’t referring to myself as a leader, I was just unsure if I was a member of the group, I don’t believe I am. I may have been at one time, I am not sure and if I was, I have likely been excommunicated for my insubordination towards the leaders.
So who or what is a leader? I have lifted this definition from Google:-
“A leader is someone who can see how things can be improved and who rallies people to move toward that better vision. Leaders can work toward making their vision a reality while putting people first. Just being able to motivate people isn’t enough – leaders need to be empathetic and connect with people to be successful.”
That’s good news, the disciplines of AML and KYC have 7000 leaders who can see how outcomes and processes can be improved, they have a vision, are rallying the soldiers and they are taking us to a better place/vision. Pause a minute, in the event they all see it differently we may simultaneously be heading in 7000 different directions. So, is there a leader of the leaders? Well, the answer is, yes and his name is David Lewis, the Executive Secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). I do not know if David is a member of this specific LinkedIn group, but I have previously stated he is effectively the leader of the global AML community.
Moreover, he has the characteristics of a leader with a vision. In 2020, when interviewed1 about global AML efforts and outcomes, he said, “I would sum up the results as ‘everyone is doing badly, but some are doing less badly than others,’”. Sometimes, to have a vision of where you need to go, you need to understand where you are, before you embark upon the journey.
David Lewis had the courage to call out our collective AML failings along with empathy, as he placed himself and the FATF in the failing group. When I spoke with him about this, he acknowledged the FATF had failed in some areas, and he was initiating change, he knows where the FATF needs to go and has a vision of how to get there.
Now back to these 7000 ladies and gentlemen within the LinkedIn group, I must hope that they too can acknowledge our collective failures, I personally am a failed AML professional, I must be, because that is my business and I am either doing badly or less badly than other failed AML professionals. I am not at all offended by David’s comment. On the contrary, I find the statement liberating and motivating, because it helps me to see there is a problem and I need to do better.
For the time being I am content to be a soldier and follow David Lewis’ leadership, because I think he is taking AML and KYC to a better place. In contrast, I am not sure who the 7000 members of the LinkedIn group are, or where they are heading to.
1Interview conducted by Simon Bowers, then of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ): https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/everyone-is-doing-badly-anti-money-laundering-czar-warns/
Copyright © 2021 Martin Woods. All rights reserved.
