Financial Crime Prevention Initiative of the Year

This award recognises a standout project that has significantly strengthened an organisation’s ability to prevent, detect or manage financial crime. The winning entry will demonstrate how a clearly defined initiative delivered measurable improvements in financial crime risk management while supporting business objectives and regulatory compliance. 

Judges will look for evidence of effective delivery, innovation, stakeholder engagement and tangible outcomes. Eligible initiatives may include AML, sanctions, fraud, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, investigations, remediation or broader financial crime transformation programmes. While technology may form part of the initiative, the focus is on the overall impact, transformation achieved and value delivered.

Eligibility

  • Open to in-house financial crime, AML, sanctions, fraud, investigations or cross-functional teams that have delivered a defined project, programme or transformation initiative. 
  • Entries should primarily reflect achievements and outcomes delivered within the past 12-18 months. 
  • The organisation or project team must be based in or operating within Europe. 
  • Advisory firms, technology providers, outsourced service providers are not eligible. 

Criteria

  • Your submission needs to respond to the 3 criteria sections: Spirit, Approach and Outcome.
  • You will be awarded a maximum of 10 points per section (30 points in total).
  • Questions are suggested in each criteria section. These are prompts to help you think about the evidence that will help judges to best assess your entry. You do not need to address all questions, please use them as a guide.
  • The 4th criteria section Validation is optional and is your opportunity to provide supporting documents to further demonstrate to judges why your submission should win. You can submit up to 3 supporting documents.  

 

Spirit: Tell us about the project, programme or initiative and the challenge it was designed to address

You may wish to include:

  • A summary of the initiative, including its objectives and strategic importance 
  • The financial crime risks, regulatory requirements or business challenges being addressed 
  • The organisational, regulatory, geopolitical or market context in which the project was delivered 
  • The scale and complexity of the organisation, including any cross-border or multi-jurisdictional considerations 
  • The drivers behind the initiative, such as regulatory change, audit findings, risk exposure, operational improvement opportunities or transformation goals 
  • The intended outcomes and benefits

 

Approach: Demonstrate how the initiative was designed, managed and delivered

You may wish to include examples of:

  • The key change, transformation or enhancement delivered through the project
  • Improvements made to financial crime controls, processes, frameworks or operating models
  • New approaches, technologies or methodologies introduced to strengthen financial crime prevention
  • How the initiative supported broader business priorities, operational effectiveness or customer outcomes
  • Project governance, stakeholder engagement and change management activities
  • Collaboration between financial crime, compliance, risk, operations, fraud, technology or other teams
  • Challenges encountered during delivery and how they were overcome
  • Innovative approaches that contributed to project success

 

Outcome: Show the outcomes and value delivered through the initiative

Evidence may include:

  • Improvements in financial crime detection, prevention or risk management 
  • Enhanced governance, oversight or regulatory readiness 
  • Improved operational effectiveness, efficiency or scalability 
  • Stronger customer protection or customer outcomes 
  • Quantitative and/or qualitative evidence of impact 
  • Successful delivery against project objectives and milestones 
  • Long-term benefits, sustainability and embedded improvements 
  • Strategic value delivered to the organisation and its stakeholders 
  • Both quantitative and qualitative evidence are welcome.

 

Validation (Optional): Support your entry with any further information to show the judges why this initiative should win

Examples may include:

  • Testimonials (maximum 100 words each) from key stakeholders, project sponsors or business leaders
  • Audit findings, assurance reviews or regulatory feedback
  • Performance reports, dashboards or programme metrics
  • Benchmarking data or independent assessments
  • Evidence of business, customer or risk management impact
  • You may submit up to three supporting documents.