Malaysia’s Financial Crime Fight Needs Smarter Intelligence and Stronger Collaboration

AICB and CONG urge financial institutions, regulators, technology providers and enforcement agencies to work together as scams become more sophisticated and cross-border.

Financial crime is no longer something that happens within the walls of a single bank.

Today, a single scam can involve a bank account, mobile number, digital platform, online identity and even networks operating across different countries. As criminals become more sophisticated, financial institutions and authorities are being pushed to connect the dots faster.

This was a key message at the opening of the 16th International Conference on Financial Crime and Counter Terrorism Financing (IFCTF 2026), held from 5 to 7 October 2026 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Organised by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB) and its Compliance Officers’ Networking Group (CONG), with support from Bank Negara Malaysia, the Securities Commission Malaysia and the Labuan FSA, the conference is calling for stronger intelligence-sharing, responsible technology use and closer cooperation across the financial ecosystem.

Malaysia’s RM2.8 billion scam problem

The urgency is particularly clear in Malaysia.

Publicly reported scam losses reached RM2.8 billion in 2025, highlighting how financial crime continues to grow in both scale and sophistication.

Rather than relying only on traditional, reactive methods, financial institutions are increasingly looking at how data, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics can help identify suspicious activity earlier.

The theme of IFCTF 2026, “Intelligence-Led Financial Crime Prevention: The Power of Data, Insights and Collaboration,” reflects this shift.

The idea is straightforward: information is only useful if institutions can turn it into intelligence and act on it before financial crime causes greater damage.

From reacting to preventing financial crime

Delivering the special address, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Dato’ Sri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour highlighted the amount of data generated through today’s digital economy.

“The challenge is no longer the availability of information, but our ability to transform them into actionable insights and intelligence.”

He stressed the need for the financial sector to move beyond simply responding to incidents after they happen.

The goal is to progress from a reactive model to a predictive one, and ultimately to a preventive one.

This is becoming increasingly important as criminals themselves adopt technology to make fraud and other illicit activities faster, more scalable and harder to detect.

AI can help, but people still make the decisions

Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics are increasingly being used to strengthen financial crime monitoring, investigations and risk detection.

However, AICB Chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim stressed that technology alone is not enough.

“Technology can help detect financial crime, but skilled professionals must turn intelligence into sound decisions.”

For banking and compliance professionals, this means having the expertise and judgement to understand what the data is actually telling them — and deciding what action should follow.

The human element remains important even as financial institutions adopt more sophisticated technology.

Banks cannot see the full picture alone

One of the biggest challenges is that financial crime often leaves individual clues across different platforms.

A suspicious transaction may appear in a bank account. Another clue could involve a phone number, a digital platform or an investigation being conducted by an enforcement agency.

Individually, these signals may not appear significant.

Together, however, they could reveal a much bigger picture.

Faradina Ghouse, FCB, Chairman of CONG and Group Chief Compliance Officer of AmBank Group, said financial institutions need to connect their intelligence with information from other parts of the ecosystem.

“Banks cannot see the full picture on their own.”

This includes closer cooperation with telecommunications providers, digital platforms and enforcement agencies, allowing relevant intelligence to be connected and acted upon more quickly.

For compliance teams, the focus is therefore shifting from looking at individual alerts towards understanding the networks, behaviours and patterns behind them.

Financial crime is becoming a technology battle

The conference also examined how technology is changing both sides of the financial crime equation.

On one hand, AI and analytics can help financial institutions identify unusual activity, investigate suspicious networks and strengthen risk management.

On the other hand, criminals are also exploiting emerging technologies to conduct fraud and other illicit activities at greater speed and scale.

IFCTF 2026 therefore covered several areas, including:

• Intelligence-led and risk-based approaches to anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing
• Responsible use of artificial intelligence and analytics
• Fraud and corruption
• Digital assets
• Governance
• Organisational resilience
• Financial crime investigations and risk management

Technology showcases at the conference also demonstrated solutions designed to support fraud detection, investigations and risk management, including technologies from Platinum Sponsor SymphonyAI and Gold Sponsor LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

Why collaboration matters

The financial crime landscape is becoming increasingly interconnected.

A bank may detect one suspicious activity, while a telecommunications provider or digital platform could hold another piece of information. Enforcement agencies may have additional intelligence that could help establish a wider pattern.

The challenge is bringing those pieces together responsibly and quickly.

That makes intelligence-sharing and cooperation increasingly important as Malaysia strengthens its fight against scams, fraud, money laundering and other forms of financial crime.

Now in its 16th edition, IFCTF continues to provide a platform for financial-sector and public-sector leaders to share practical approaches to tackling financial crime and strengthening public trust.

The Babbling Channel take

For everyday consumers, financial crime can sometimes feel like something happening somewhere in the background — until a scam affects their bank account or someone they know.

The message coming out of IFCTF 2026 is that stopping financial crime is no longer simply about catching suspicious transactions after they happen.

It is about connecting the dots earlier.

With more financial activity moving online and criminals becoming increasingly comfortable with technology, the combination of better intelligence, responsible AI, skilled professionals and stronger cooperation could become one of the most important lines of defence for Malaysia’s financial ecosystem.