How to Combat Anti-Money Laundering Trends in 2024

April 29, 2024

Money laundering remains a formidable threat to the financial system's integrity, with criminals using increasingly complex methods to obscure the illegal origins of their funds. This highlights the critical need for robust tools such as Unit21’s ongoing monitoring for anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. Annually, the global volume of money laundered is estimated at 2-5% of global GDP, illustrating the scale and impact of these activities on national and international economies​.

In this blog post, we will explore how banks and fintech are combating the latest money laundering trends with technology. 

What Key Strategies Are Crucial for Combating Money Laundering?

Fighting these illegal activities requires careful planning and advanced technology. To deal with the emerging challenges in this area, it's important to know and use several strategies that can really improve your efforts against money laundering. Here are some key strategies essential for tackling money laundering.


Enhance Transaction Monitoring

Focus on enhancing your transaction monitoring capabilities. By identifying suspicious and unusual activities, you can take timely action against potential money laundering threats. With Unit21, you can choose from out-of-the-box rules or craft custom rules through a user-friendly, no-code interface. This flexibility allows for quick adjustments in response to emerging laundering tactics, giving you control over monitoring without the need for extensive technical expertise.

Efficient Case Management

Effective case management systems consolidate relevant data in one place, enabling quick access and decision-making. With Unit21, all pertinent data is accessible in a single dashboard, facilitating rapid analysis and resolution of alerts. This centralization speeds up the investigation process and helps your team focus on genuine threats, reducing the time spent on false positives.

Automate Regulatory Filings

Compliance with AML regulations often requires filing various reports, such as Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs). Automating these filings can save significant time and reduce human error. Unit21's platform streamlines direct SAR e-filing to FinCEN and automated CTR and goAML reporting to over 56 countries. Pre-populated templates and narrative suggestions simplify the reporting process, ensuring compliance is timely and accurate.

Reduce False Positives with Advanced Screening

Reducing the number of false positives in watchlist and sanctions screening is crucial for efficient compliance operations. Incorporating sophisticated matching algorithms and risk assessment tools helps refine alert systems to minimize unnecessary alerts. Unit21’s system integrates global sanctions and watchlist screening, tailored to reduce false positives by more than 60%. This precision allows your team to focus more on true risks rather than spending time vetting irrelevant alerts.

Enhance Due Diligence with PEP Monitoring

Monitoring Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) , their families, and close associates is crucial for maintaining compliance and preventing financial crimes. Unit21 provides advanced PEP monitoring as part of an Enhanced Due Diligence Program. This includes real-time, global data checks that help decrease your organization’s exposure to corruption and other financial crimes associated with high-risk individuals.

Integrate Customer Risk Ratings

Assessing and understanding each customer's risk profile is vital for tailoring your AML compliance strategies effectively. Advanced analytics transform complex data into actionable insights, enabling better risk management. With Unit21, customer risk ratings are integrated into your compliance workflows, empowering your team with data-driven insights for making informed decisions. This streamlines the compliance process and ensures that risk assessments are precise and consistent.

Implement Quality Controls

Implementing robust quality assurance and control mechanisms can mitigate risks associated with errors and ensure compliance standards are met. Unit21 offers customizable QA and QC tools that integrate seamlessly into your AML framework. These tools help maintain high-quality standards in your investigations and reporting, reducing the operational burden and enhancing overall compliance efficacy.

Embrace the Future of AML with Unit21’s AML Monitoring Solutions

As our world gets more connected through digital technology, the challenges in anti-money laundering are growing fast. It’s more important than ever to stay ahead with effective AML tools.


Unit21’s comprehensive suite of AML monitoring solutions empowers you to identify suspicious activity, manage cases efficiently, and maintain compliance with ease. You can focus on strategic decision-making rather than getting bogged down in manual reviews. Reduce investigation times, cut operational costs, and mitigate risks more effectively, all while protecting your organization from financial crimes and compliance penalties.

Schedule a demo today to discover how our AML monitoring solutions can fortify your defenses against tomorrow's sophisticated threats.

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