Risk Intelligence Roundup for June 2024

Welcome to our Risk Intelligence Roundup newsletter, where we focus on delivering curated compliance insights and solutions to empower your risk management strategy.

Before we catch up with the biggest happenings in the Risk Intelligence industry in June, we just wanted to share that at the beginning of the month, our Risk Intelligence experts, Siyana Vacheva and Alex Tzankov , attended the Money20/20 Europe conference in Amsterdam!

For those unfamiliar with the event, the Money 20/20 Europe conference is the place where the fintech industry’s boldest and brightest new voices come together to grow their brands.

Want to know how A Data Pro can help you enhance and protect your fintech business? Book a meeting with our experts ????

? Siyana Vacheva, our Head of Risk & Compliance Business Services: https://meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/siyana

? Alex Tzankov, our Products and New Markets Manager: https://meetings-eu1.hubspot.com/alexander-tzankov

In June 2024, Western nations continued their fight against money laundering and financial fraud, a cat-and-mouse game that has led to the introduction of new measures, organisations, and tools designed to safeguard the financial sector and the global financing industry. We look back on some of the biggest news from the month, including new anti-money laundering (AML) laws and sanctions.

News from the Financial Sector

The (EU) Unveils New Comprehensive AML Package

On June 19, the European Union (EU) unveiled a package that created a new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA). Officially adopted in May, it creates a series of directives aimed at introducing strict regulations designed to target the rise of money laundering across Europe.

The package overhauls existing AML rules by adopting a new, centralised approach. Directives include:

• Enhanced customer due diligence requires financial institutions to be more thorough when conducting know your customer (KYC) and AML checks on new customers and customers conducting high-risk transactions.
• Greater transparency around company ownership, including registers of beneficial ownership that can be accessed by the general public. By making ownership public, it will become difficult for criminals to hide behind shell companies for the purpose of laundering funds.
• New cryptocurrency regulations mandate customer due diligence checks for digital currencies while subjecting all virtual assets to the same rigorous AML checks employed across the traditional banking sector.

News from the Cyber Security Sector

A Hack on the NHS Causes Chaos for UK Clinics

On June 3, an agency that manages labs for doctor’s surgeries across London, UK, was the victim of hacking. Synnovis was targeted by a Russian criminal group known as Qilin, leading to thousands of cancelled appointments and causing chaos for healthcare professionals and concern for patients.

The group demanded a ransom of ￡50 million and threatened to release patient data. They eventually followed through with their threat, leaking nearly 400 GB of data that included the names, dates of birth, blood test results, and NHS numbers of patients across London. Over 3,000 appointments were cancelled as a result of the hack, placing additional strain on an organisation that is already understaffed.

Cyber security experts have used this event to highlight the need for more robust security measures across the healthcare sector, stressing the importance of protecting sensitive patient data while also protecting a healthcare system that records 1.3 million appointments every day and is responsible for the health of a nation.

TeamViewer is Compromised

On June 26, TeamViewer announced that its systems had been “compromised”. It had previously announced that an “irregularity” had been detected in its systems, and later released a statement confirming the hack. They added that security was of “utmost importance” to the firm and they would endeavour to keep their users updated on their progress as they investigate matters further.

The firm, which operates remote-viewing software, added that there was no evidence to suggest that customer data had been affected by the hack, but investigations are still ongoing. We will know more in time.

TeamViewer claims that its software has been installed on over 2.5 billion devices since its inception, and it is thought to have hundreds of thousands of regular users all over the world. It is not the first time that the company has been hacked. It was suspected to have been hacked back in 2016, an event that it did not acknowledge at the time and eventually admitted several years later.

Sanctions

June 2024 saw more sanctions being imposed against Russia, North Korea, and Iran, among others, in response to ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East.

June 12

The US targeted Russia’s financial infrastructure and attempted to limit its access to the global financial network with a new series of sanctions.

June 13

The UK, in coordination with G7 partners, launched 50 new sanctions designed to target “Putin’s war machine”. Announced during the G7 Leaders Summit, they included sanctions targeting ships believed to have been used to circumvent existing sanctions.

June 14

The G7 issued sanctions warnings against Iran, stating that they were prepared to act in response to its nuclear enrichment programme.

June 17

The EU confirmed that it would renew sanctions imposed against Russia for the annexation of Crimea for at least another year.

June 24

The EU released its 14th package of sanctions against Russia, including further flight bans, sanctions targeting the liquified natural gas (LNG) industry, and a ban of the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS).????

June 25

The US imposed new sanctions on nearly 50 entities accused of moving money to support Iran’s military. They targeted what they described as a “vast shadow banking system” with measures that encompassed companies across the UAE, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the Marshall Islands, as well as Iran itself.

Did You Know…

New sanctions are imposed on a monthly basis by authorities in the UK, US, and EU. If you conduct business in these regions, the onus is on you to ensure you abide by these sanctions, and you could face substantial penalties if you break them. Risk intelligence solutions can help you to navigate these sanctions and conduct business safely and legally, but the risks extend beyond sanctions lists.

Your business is also at risk from entities not on these lists, including individuals involved with fraud and those being investigated for serious financial crimes and misdoing. Adverse media screening provides an additional layer of protection to guard against such risks. It works by scouring media sources to find concerning and alarming reports, allowing you to conduct significant, high-risk transactions safely in the knowledge that you are working with legitimate entities.

At A Data Pro, we adopt an all-encompassing approach to adverse media screening. We employ real people and use human-led screening to negate the risk of false positives. Our experienced technicians create reports that cut out the jargon and leave only the most useful information, telling you everything that you need to know and nothing that you do not.

So, if you want to conduct business safely and securely with entities that you can trust, contact us today and discover how our solutions can benefit your business.

See you next month! ????