Applying AI to the war on financial crime

Clouds are gathering over swaths of fintech companies, as falling economic growth, rising interest rates and a cost of living crisis put their business models under strain, forcing job cuts and valuation-crushing funding rounds. ComplyAdvantage founder Charlie Delingpole knows his company is not immune to those forces, as fintechs are among the biggest buyers of his financial crime prevention products. In fact, some clients, including crypto lender Celsius Network, have already gone bust. But the business — which uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence (AI) to run compliance checks on transactions — is proving more resilient than most, as Russia-related sanctions and a global clampdown on financial crime underpin healthy demand. “We’re the last thing they turn off before their server,” says Delingpole, a one-time JPMorgan Chase technology banker, of the enduring demand for his company’s services from financial groups — even when times are tight. Delingpole, who transitioned from chief executive to executive chair in October, founded ComplyAdvantage eight years ago. Back then, demand for compliance checks was already ramping up in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, as financial institutions were hit with hefty fines for mistakes and misconduct.

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