July 2025
By Peter Deans, Board Member, The RegTech Association
On an unseasonably cold day in Tokyo in early March this year, a group of financial crime, cyber security, and RegTech leaders from around the globe met to share insights and perspectives, and understand the role of all players in supporting the ultimate protection of consumers.
With heavy snow falling outside, a lively discussion took place on how the world can protect people from current and future financial crime and digital threats.
The group compared notes on the current threats facing individuals, communities, businesses, and nations in Asia and other regions and talked about the urgent need for governments and businesses to come together to address the threats.
The key themes discussed at the roundtable, under Chatham House rules, included:
The financial crime landscape continues to evolve and change rapidly and in many more challenging ways.
The rise of digital finance has led to new forms of financial crimes, which include artificial intelligence (AI) driven scams and more sophisticated cyberattacks. Increasingly, the world is seeing criminal elements using emerging technologies to manipulate consumers and bypass existing security measures.
The roundtable participants underscored how new innovations - particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain - have empowered criminals to exploit weaknesses in both traditional and decentralised financial systems. The emergence of new, instant payment platforms and digital asset markets was providing criminals with new tools to carry out their activities.
The speed and scale at which these systems operate mean that scammers can move funds across borders within minutes, making recovery and enforcement activities much more challenging. The roundtable discussed how criminal tactics are evolving. They now include remarkably effective deepfake impersonation, synthetic identity creation, and AI-generated phishing campaigns.
It was highlighted that consumer protection requires an integrated approach across many areas. It is not possible for a single entity to be successful in tackling financial crime alone.
Effective protection requires a coordinated and multilayered approach involving regulators, financial institutions, technology providers, and law enforcement agencies. This also needed cross-border strategies and international cooperation. Only by working in concert – by sharing data, harmonising standards, and co-developing strategies - will financial systems stay resilient and adaptive against increasingly tech-enabled, agile and well-resourced adversaries.
Several participants also noted that Asia was at the forefront of developing national-level responses to the threats.
The roundtable noted that AI, while being used to facilitate scams and fraud, is also an increasingly powerful tool for fraud detection and prevention. AI-driven solutions, data analytics, and privacy-enhancing technologies are being used to strengthen consumer protections across all sectors.
The role of The RegTech Association, other industry bodies, and government programmes, such as innovation hubs,to promote and foster the adoption of new technologies was highlighted. The roundtable agreed that current approaches and existing technologies will not be sufficient in the future to deal with this increasingly hostile environment.
The challenges of keeping policy and regulation current and appropriate for the changing environment were noted. The roundtable participants agreed it continues to be particularly important to pay attention to the protection of privacy and security whilst ensuring robust frameworks and strategies are in place to deal with the increasing threats.
It was highlighted that regulators are tasked with keeping pace with digital transformation to establish clear guidelines for financial institutions while fostering innovation. There was no doubt that the rise in scams and frauds in recent years was an issue to be urgently addressed by policymakers, regulators, and industry.
The four key takeaways and action items for those in attendance were:
Participants unanimously recognised the urgent need to deepen cross-border collaboration to effectively combat transnational financial crimes. This requires building secure, robust information-sharing protocols that allow regulators, law enforcement agencies, and financial institutions to work in tandem across jurisdictions. Enhanced cooperation will enable faster detection and disruption of criminal networks operating across borders.
There was broad consensus that artificial intelligence must play a central role in modern fraud prevention strategies. Greater investment in AI-powered detection models, federated learning and predictive analytics will allow stakeholders to anticipate and counteract evolving threats, from cyber-enabled scams to sophisticated money laundering operations.
It was agreed that no single financial institution or agency can detect the full scale and complexity of organised financial crime in isolation. A collective approach, where data from multiple institutions and enforcement bodies is aggregated and analysed, is essential to uncover the complete picture of criminal networks’ financial flows.
At the same time, participants stressed the importance of embedding strong privacy safeguards and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations to maintain public trust and protect individual rights.
The discussion emphasised that financial crime prevention extends beyond regulation and enforcement. Public education and awareness are vital to reducing vulnerabilities to scams and frauds.
The roundtable called for sustained multi-stakeholder efforts to design and implement education initiatives that are both scalable and effective.
The session was moderated by Deborah Algeo, Global Managing Director for Solutions by Zodia Custody and Global Ambassador, The RegTech Association.