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Chief Compliance Officers (“CCOs”) are facing uncertain times due to a combination of factors that challenge the stability and predictability of their operating environments. These factors include geopolitical tensions; rapidly shifting political and regulatory agendas that are resulting in less uniform approaches across the globe; budget and headcount restraints; evolving business models; the speed and impact of innovation; and, in some companies, waning board and management support stemming from the belief that regulatory pressures may be lessening.

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Ask financial crime professionals what the most challenging part of their job is, and most will likely say it is the timely identification of suspicious activity. As much as companies have worked to improve their detection capabilities given their compliance obligations, their desire to protect their reputations and their understanding, as corporate citizens, of the impact of financial crime on society — success has remained elusive.

Historically, financial crime detection has involved mostly after-the-fact (hindsight) identification of potentially illicit activity gleaned from reviewing massive amounts of alerts — most of which are non-productive. Enter artificial intelligence (AI), which offers the opportunity not only for better detection results (insight) but for predicting (foresight) when suspicious activity may occur. Add the potential process efficiencies that AI offers across many facets of financial crime compliance programs, and the large number of companies at risk of being used to facilitate financial crime — and it becomes clear why enterprises are increasingly eager to understand and explore the opportunities.

For purposes of this FAQ guide, we have chosen to focus on financial services and e-commerce, two of the higher at-risk industry sectors; however, much of what is covered will apply to other industries as well given the indiscriminate nature of financial crime and wide spanning regulatory/compliance mandates. The questions are illustrative and far from exhaustive, but they are the ones that have arisen most often during our discussions and work with clients and others in the marketplace. Some questions apply generally to the adoption of AI for any purpose, while others are very specific to the use of AI to support financial crime compliance. We intend our responses to be plain language, largely non-technical answers to the questions that may be on the mind of financial crime professionals, management, and board members when it comes to whether or how to adopt artificial intelligence.

This FAQ guide is provided for general information only and is not intended as legal analysis or advice. Companies should seek legal counsel on specific questions as they relate to their unique circumstances. Regulatory guidance and industry standards on the use of artificial intelligence continues to evolve and varies across jurisdictions and industries. Accordingly, some of the issues addressed in this booklet may be impacted by future guidance.

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The big picture: As we enter the new year, the financial services industry once again faces compliance risks that are increasingly diverse and complex.

Priorities by region: For 2025 we asked a larger-than-usual group of Protiviti colleagues across the globe to help identify the most pressing compliance issues in their market.

Common areas of concern: Artificial intelligence, financial crime, privacy and security, operational resilience, third party risk management, consumer protection, compliance function optimization, and resourcing were identified as priorities in all regions.

Go deeper: Read about idiosyncratic issues in North America that have emerged from heightened uncertainty, regulators’ ESG focus in Europe and U.K., and conduct and culture concerns in Asia-Pacific. We also look back at our 2024 predictions.