increased by a quarter in 2023 compared to 2022 – from €100m 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches to circa €126m. 1 fraud was highest in credit transfers and card payments, with the biggest growth seen in money remittance. this echoes trends across europe, with a joint eba / ecb report in august 2024 revealing that fraud losses are highest in credit transfer and card payments across the european economic area ( eea ). 2 financial crime, of course, recognises no borders. and so, given the scale of the challenge which regulators and law enforcement agencies face, collective action – a harmonised response - is imperative. which is why the eu's aml package is so important – it provides the framework and the agency ( amla ) through which we will collectively meet the challenge head on. the aml package is by design technology neutral. it applies to traditional banking / financial models equally as it applies to crypto - asset service providers ( casps ), crowdfunding platforms and intermediaries. it obliges all types of firms that come within its ambit to comply with a set of aml / cft rules that have now been harmonised across europe. how these firms comply with the rules is up to them, via traditional aml / cft compliance programmes or by using regtech tools. what's essential is that the means used are effective, and that such effectiveness can be demonstrated to supervisors. this will be the case both for the 40 obliged entities that will be directly supervised by amla and the firms supervised by national aml authorities. 3 not waiting for the wind to change, the eu has addressed a number of emerging risks in the package. to give some examples, the use of ai is acknowledged under the package, with an obligation on firms to ensure that human oversight is applied to decisions proposed by ai tools that may impact customers in certain areas. additionally, details of virtual ibans which are linked to other payment accounts will have to be recorded in member states'bank account registers. this will allow law enforcement to trace any funds being moved by such virtual ibans. finally, the package introduces the concept of information sharing partnerships. through these, credit and financial institutions will be enabled to share information relating to high risk customers, subject to important guardrails including data protection assessments. the lack of an ability to share such information has long been pointed to as a real weak link in the system,

derville rowland : innovation and technology in financial crime remarks by ms derville rowland, deputy governor of the central bank of ireland, at the afore annual fintech and regulation conference, dublin, 4 february 2025. * * * good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. it is a pleasure to be with you today and to address a topic so crucial to the future of financial services : the utilisation of innovation and technology to conduct – and most importantly, combat – financial crime. in the mid to late'90s, when email truly took off as a global tool for commerce, i was a barrister working for the uk's crown prosecution service amongst others, dealing with various criminal cases including serious frauds. justified enthusiasm about the ability to connect the world more effectively and efficiently was subsequently dampened somewhat by use of the technology for all manner of deceptions, frauds and financial crimes. several decades later, we see the same pattern playing out in real - time with artificial intelligence, with criminals using ai tools to bypass customer due diligence controls and carry out fraud via social engineering. these sophisticated methods, including the use of ai tools via text, images, and voice, present significant challenges for regulators and supervisors. there's a popular saying that the pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, but the realist adjusts the sails. as a regulator with hard - won experience of developing frameworks, building the teams to implement them, and deploying technology to combat financial crime and address misconduct, i'm very much a realist – albeit one who remains stubbornly optimistic. i don't believe it's an either / or scenario. put simply, i believe in the potential benefits of innovation and technology for consumers, investors, businesses and society – and want to see them realised. but this also means the risks must be effectively managed – we must, as it were, adjust the sails. the importance of collective responses the risks, of course, need no explanation to this audience. the anonymity of virtual assets can be used to transfer illicit funds quickly and across borders, with criminals increasingly leveraging new technologies to commit fraud, launder the proceeds of crime, and carry out financing of terrorism. the speed at which funds can be moved across borders makes it easier for criminals to exploit the financial system. and so on. last month, the central bank of ireland published statistics showing the value of fraud in payments in ireland