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11 Aug 2020 – Articles

Fighting financial crime: collaboration needed to make the entire system safer

Close collaboration between banks and authorities is needed to defeat criminals and make the entire system safer, says chairman of the Anti Money Laundering Task Force at Finance Denmark, Linda Nielsen and Head of Financial Crime at Danske Bank, Satnam Lehal.

The global nature of financial crime and the cunning behaviour of criminals require close collaboration within the financial sector and between the sector and authorities, says professor of Global Governance at Copenhagen University and chairman of the Anti Money Laundering Task Force at Finance Denmark, Linda Nielsen, in a discussion with Head of Financial Crime at Danske Bank, Satnam Lehal. 

“Criminals are smart and some of them are very global, so we need to collaborate to be smarter, to be efficient and to be cost effective”, says Linda Nielsen. 
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And it is important to make the entire system safer, adds Satnam Lehal. Individual banks must be safe but ultimately fighting financial crime is about making the system safe and resilient. 

“Every bank as an individual institution needs to be safer but actually we need to make the system safer. One organisation could become strong and very good but [in itself] that would just move the problem somewhere else. So we need a whole sector approach”, says Satnam Lehal. 

Every bank needs to be safer but we also need to make the system safer. One organisation could become strong and very good but that would just move the problem somewhere else. So we need a whole sector approach

Satnam Lehal

Head of Financial Crime, Danske Bank


Nordic advantage
They both agree that the history and culture of collaboration in the Nordics will prove an advantage in working together towards a safer and stronger financial sector in the Nordics. 

We might have been a bit naïve in the Nordics but the anti money laundering failures at Danske Bank and other banks have been a wake-up call which is creating a greater alertness, says Linda Nielsen who adds that Danske Bank will play an important role in facilitating greater collaboration between banks to fight financial crime. 

“You have a major role to play, an important role, because of [the scale of] your competencies, your staff and your technology. And you need to share because you are the one who can do it and you will do it for the greater good”, says Linda Nielsen. 

See entire discussion in the link above