The summary of the report is materially pejorative. It starts with "Financial crime in Europe is staggering in scale and inextricably linked to a global crisis that undermines financial systems, economies and communities around the world."

It goes on "An estimated $750.000 million in illicit funds flowed through Europe’s financial system, representing 2.3% of total European GDP" and then "Fraud also poses a substantial threat to Europe's financial industry, with an estimated $103,600 million in losses resulting from various scams and bank fraud scenarios."

It claims to make "new insights" saying "of all funds laundered across Europe, $194,900 million was moved across borders, representing more than a quarter of the total estimates for money laundering activity in the region in 2023. With cross-border transactions increasing globally, pan-European and international financial flows are a significant vector for illicit activity."

As one reads the release, it becomes clear that what we are really looking at is not a true and fair analysis, but a promotional statement, not for the report but for a product or service. There are more trigger-phrases than one can shake a stick at: it's an Search Engine Optimisation clerk's wet dream: "analysis highlights the scale of financial crime across the region, which significantly impedes the growth and security of Europe’s financial system. The nefarious activities that underpin illicit flows, such as elder abuse, fraud scams, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and terrorist financing – have serious economic and societal impacts across Europe and around the world."

The company's boss, Stephanie Champion says ""The time is now for industry stakeholders to work together to build on the positive momentum across Europe to deliver on a step change in the fight against financial crime".

So, that's the point: the "positive momentum" is Nasdaq Verafin's bid to be part of the EU's rapid growth in its Anti-Money Laundering Authority and related Regulations.

"Criminals are not bound by banks, borders or regulations – so by aligning on shared goals, we can strengthen economies across the region and safeguard the wider financial system from harm."

The report " it underscores opportunities for stakeholders within the European financial industry to align their priorities for financial crime prevention, collaborate across sectors and borders, and expedite innovation through advanced technology. Innovative solutions and data-driven strategies will be crucial for enhancing anti-money laundering and fraud prevention efforts, ultimately ensuring a more secure financial ecosystem in Europe."

All it needs is a blatant sales pitch to tie a bow on the purpose in case anyone reaches the end of the announcement without getting the point. Oh, look: here it is: "

Nasdaq Verafin has been a partner to the financial industry for decades and provides an industry-leading suite of cloud-based financial crime management solutions that support banks in preventing fraud and uncovering money laundering. Today, more than 2,600 financial institutions representing $10 billion in assets use Nasdaq Verafin to fight crimes such as scams, elder financial exploitation, human trafficking, and terrorist financing. Nasdaq Verafin's unique consortium data approach delivers insights into counterparty risk to reduce false positives and significantly improve payments fraud detection. Its AI-driven solutions help banks automate compliance processes for efficiency and delivers highly targeted AML analytics for specific financial crime typologies and ultimately improves the effectiveness of anti-financial crime efforts.

And just in case that missed its mark there's this:

About Nasdaq Verafin

Nasdaq Verafin provides cloud-based Financial Crime Management Technology solutions for Fraud Detection, AML/CFT Compliance, High-Risk Customer Management, Sanctions Screening and Management, and Information Sharing. More than 2,600 financial institutions globally, representing nearly $10T[that probably means billion as in one million to the power two] in collective assets, use Nasdaq Verafin to prevent fraud and strengthen AML/CFT efforts. Leveraging our unique consortium data approach in targeted analytics with artificial intelligence and machine learning, Nasdaq Verafin significantly reduces false positive alerts and delivers context-rich insights to fight financial crime more efficiently and effectively. To learn how Nasdaq Verafin can help your institution fight fraud and money laundering....

The thing is that it's quite possible that the Report has much of value but

a) from the summary it's missing one vital point: where the dirty money originates. How much of it comes from outside the EU

b) how do other markets of similar size compare? The USA, for example.

c) the EU is not a country but the EU is trying to create institusions and regulations that work as if it is. But we are not there yet and so it is material to know the splits between EU member states. Importantly, how much of it goes through Germany which is taking the lead with its concentration of financial services regulation in Frankfurt? 

Why? Because if it's the Eurozone that's being criticised, then that means that the European Central Bank is at the heart of it. 

Should we read the report: you can if if you like: it's here.

But WMLR thinks we've got the gist - an American company wants to position itself as a leader in financial crime technology in an initiative by a pseudo-government that is currently running before it can walk and is throwing mud at it to say "hey, look, we're over here, we can fix you."