Anti-fraud and anti-money laundering operations within a bank have distinct business imperatives, processes, procedures and KPIs. At the same time, they are united around a common goal of detecting and preventing financial crime and use similar tools toward this end. And, while increased collaboration and convergence between fraud and AML can deliver efficiencies and lower costs, challenges remain.

Deeply siloed lines of business and complex system architectures have limited the potential for collaboration between fraud and AML at many top tier banks. The situation is very different at mid-market banks. Most banks want, and many to some degree already have, convergence of organizations, processes and systems for fraud and AML.

The way forward can be challenging, due to aging systems, operational and data silos and the initial investment required. As a result, the path to convergence requires vision, steadfastness and the right technology.

Celent surveyed mid-market banks, savings institutions and credit unions, and neobanks in the US to gauge the appetite for fraud and AML convergence and to understand the approaches they take. The research was supported by Hawk, a provider of anti-money laundering, screening and fraud prevention technology, who helped design the survey.