With faster payments leading to faster crime we caught up with International Head of Crime at Stripe, Kate Hotten, to get her thoughts on the role of fintechs in financial crime prevention and her session at the IDENTITY.i Virtual Summit.
CGG: Could you tell us a little about the session you're presenting at IDENTITY.i?
KH: I'll touch on the concept of fintech and how that, more and more, pervades all areas of financial services today. It's no longer "emerging", but a concept we should all be pretty comfortable with. We'll then chat about the challenges of instant payments and what we can learn from two specific trends arising from digital payments (transaction laundering, and card cashing). We'll wrap by talking about how, even with the increasingly rapid movement of money, we can still identify sanctions and fraud risks in near-real time with the right tech and awareness.
CGG: In your opinion, how has the COVID-19 crisis affected the Financial Crime landscape?
KH: The way we're moving money is increasingly digital. You're seeing a rapid increase in adoption of digital consumer products and more businesses moving online. You're also seeing your more traditional institutions move towards online systems (even in simple ways, such as allowing digital signatures), which will potentially reduce the stigma around "fintech" as we see more and more firms using similar automated or smart controls. And we're obviously seeing new criminal trends, but that's true in reaction to any socio-political shift; I think the more interesting trend is the digitization.
CGG: What strategies/products/services are fintechs implementing to help customers navigate/overcome these uncertain times?
KH: We've already seen numerous regulators share their expectations of financial institutions during this time, and many include workarounds or new expectations for digital onboarding. This is enabling fintechs to quickly onboard new users who may not have previously had access to a range of non-cash payment systems. Governments are also offering support for SMBs and fintechs and other financial institutions are doing a lot to deliver on that support, by sharing information, facilitating payouts, and more.
CGG: Why would you recommend delegates attend IDENTITY.i and what are you most looking forward to at the Virtual Summit?
KH: It's great to have the opportunity to engage with other professionals right now, and especially in a format that encourages open dialogue between attendees. Excited to experience a new type of conference experience!
To learn more from Kate and other experts at IDENTITY.i, register here to attend the Virtual Summit.
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About Kate:
Kate Hotten built and now leads Stripe's financial crimes program across APAC, EMEA and LatAm. Prior to Stripe, Ms. Hotten worked for Wells Fargo in the U.S. and U.K. with a focus on anti-bribery and corruption and correspondent banking portfolio risk. She has been recruited for projects in Angola, Jordan and Uganda sponsored by counter-terrorism grants and similar initiatives. Ms. Hotten is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and received a Master of Science in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz.