2020 is set to be a year of regulatory upheaval. Post-Brexit, a new EU:UK relationship is being negotiated, 5AMLD must be adhered to and waves of new technology are shaking up the compliance industry from both the criminal and solution side of the issue.

The implementation of 5AMLD has been an agenda-headlining piece of legislation for the past few months and it's likely to remain that way. However, the digitalisation of anti-money laundering requirements introduced by the directive has received relatively little attention from compliance teams across institutions - possibly due to many still working to bed-in the requirements that 4AMLD brought in during 2017.

This seems a missed opportunity, as the global anti-financial crime network is expending considerable effort to adapt to modern technology and deploy digitalisation strategies to counter money launderers. Digitalisation is a chance for institutions to move in a more agile way, get ahead of criminals and target the additional checks and cross-industry harmonisation that 5AMLD seeks to achieve.

Digitalisation can also help optimise the response to regulatory change, as a list of new compliance standards is not, on its own, capable of delivering the required 5MLD changes in time or to quality. The wider digital transformation project that all institutions are undergoing seeks to eliminate manual processes and let the computers do the dull work. More importantly, digitalisation can create space for compliance officers, financial intelligence units and product specialists to focus on the difficult and in-depth investigative reasoning required to move beyond compliance and help law enforcement tackle the criminals seeking to exploit the financial system.

Find out more about navigating compliance in 2020 by reading the ComplyAdvantage: 2020 Global Report.