Quantexa Survey Reveals Confidence Gap in Community Bank AML Defences

On paper, mid-size and community banks in the United States should feel secure. A recent survey found that 94% of anti-money laundering (AML) professionals at these institutions are confident in their ability to spot criminal activity. But confidence can be deceptive. Nearly half of those same professionals admitted their investigations are slow, inefficient, and undermined by outdated technology.

This tension – between confidence and capability – sits at the heart of a new study conducted by Quantexa, which surveyed 200 AML specialists. The findings shed light on an industry segment that rarely makes headlines yet plays a critical role in the American economy. These banks are the lenders of choice for small businesses and local communities. They are also increasingly on the front lines of a global financial crime problem that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates drains $800 billion to $2 trillion each year, or roughly 2–5% of global GDP.

Large international banks often attract regulatory attention and media scrutiny, but smaller regional institutions face the same compliance expectations – with far fewer resources to meet them. Their teams are lean, their systems often dated, and their budgets stretched thin. That leaves them vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated criminal networks that exploit technological gaps as readily as legal ones.

The survey findings make the challenge clear. Almost half of respondents pointed to outdated systems, fragmented data, and the absence of real-time monitoring as their biggest barriers to effective AML. Others highlighted operational inefficiencies: investigations bogged down by high false positives and manual processes that drain limited staff capacity. Nearly half also acknowledged a lack of in-house expertise to modernise AML programmes.

“Mid-size and community banks are the heart of Main Street America, powering small business growth and local economies,” said Chris Bagnall, Head of Financial Crime Solutions for North America at Quantexa. “With financial crime evolving faster than ever and outdated systems leaving them exposed, these banks have a critical opportunity to harness better data and AI to make smarter decisions and protect the communities and businesses they serve.”

Yet technology is only part of the equation. Regulatory uncertainty compounds the problem. Forty-five percent of AML professionals surveyed said unclear guidance around new tools such as AI is slowing progress. The result is what many describe as “decision paralysis” – a reluctance to invest in innovation without clearer signals from regulators.

Despite these headwinds, there are signs of optimism. The vast majority of respondents see AI, contextual data, and real-time monitoring as essential to modernising their programmes. Nearly all (93%) said that information sharing between banks under Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act is critical for detecting illicit activity. Collaboration – both across institutions and with regulators – is increasingly seen as a way to level the playing field.

The report concludes with a call to action: modernise outdated systems, invest in people and processes, and move beyond static monitoring to dynamic, data-driven defences. The message is clear – failing to adapt risks leaving the institutions that power America’s local economies exposed to growing threats.

What emerges is more than a snapshot of survey data. It is a story of resilience under strain. Mid-size and community banks may be confident, but unless they bridge the gap between perception and reality, their confidence could prove misplaced. In an era when financial crime is evolving faster than ever, standing still is not an option.

InTick Achieves ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Certification for Information Security

InTick, the listed derivatives blocking network, has been awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, a globally recognised standard for information security management. The certification, issued by Insight Assurance, confirms that InTick has implemented a structured framework to protect information assets, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability across its operations.

This achievement follows a period of growth for the company, including the live launch of its block matching platform during the June ICE Gilt and Eurex Fixed Income futures rolls and the successful raising of £2 million in funding from angel investors in July 2025. InTick’s platform targets inefficiencies in listed derivatives block trading by offering a centralised source of pricing, electronic All-to-All client matching for fixed income and equities derivatives, and digitisation of manual workflows. The certification underscores the company’s commitment to secure and scalable trading solutions.

BNP Paribas and HSBC Join Canton Foundation to Advance Decentralised Financial Infrastructure

BNP Paribas and HSBC have become the newest members of The Canton Foundation, strengthening the growing institutional support for the Canton Network. Their participation follows the recent additions of Goldman Sachs, Hong Kong FMI Services Limited and Moody’s Ratings, underscoring the increasing strategic role of the network in the future of global financial infrastructure.

The Canton Network aims to enable tokenised finance through decentralised technology that safeguards data privacy, operational control and interoperability. Its Global Synchronizer provides the core infrastructure for connecting digital assets across permissioned blockchains, under the decentralised governance of a community of banks, fintechs and service providers.

With over 30 members now onboard, including Broadridge, Tradeweb and Digital Asset, the Canton Foundation continues to build a collaborative ecosystem. The inclusion of BNP Paribas and HSBC represents another step towards aligning global capital markets through a secure and scalable decentralised framework.

British Arab Commercial Bank Partners with Integral to Enhance FX Operations

British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB), a UK-based international wholesale bank, has selected Integral, a leading currency technology provider, to upgrade its foreign exchange operations. The move comes in response to growing client demand for more advanced FX capabilities.

The adoption of Integral’s technology will enable BACB to improve liquidity aggregation, pricing, distribution and white labelling. By integrating Integral’s price engine, the bank will be able to generate its own pricing for local currency pairs and deliver it through a fully branded, customisable web platform embedded alongside clients’ existing trading tools. This shift replaces manual processes, supports more competitive pricing, and strengthens BACB’s presence in Middle Eastern and African markets.

In addition, Integral’s platform will streamline workflows and improve transparency by reducing manual compliance tasks. This technology-driven approach marks a significant step in optimising BACB’s FX services and meeting the evolving needs of its global trade finance and treasury clients.

BlockFills and QIS Risk Partner to Enhance Institutional Portfolio Visibility and Risk Analysis

BlockFills, the digital asset trading and market technology provider, has partnered with QIS Risk, a portfolio monitoring solution for institutional crypto investors, to expand risk and performance analysis capabilities for their shared clients. The collaboration allows investors to gain a unified view of their portfolios across all asset classes, counterparties, investment types, and blockchain networks.

Through QIS Risk’s platform, BlockFills clients can now integrate their digital asset derivatives positions into a broader portfolio context. This consolidated perspective aims to improve decision-making by removing the limitations of counterparty-specific reporting and offering more comprehensive insights into overall exposure.

The partnership reflects growing institutional demand for digital asset options. BlockFills reported that its digital asset options volume in July rose 70% compared with the same month last year.

ESG Reporting Platform Greenomy Acquired by Position Green

Sustainability reporting solutions provider Greenomy has been acquired by ESG software developer Position Green.

Brussels based Greenomy, which had been majority funded by Euroclear, is hoped to provide Position Green with an across-the-board analytics and compliance offering.

CME Group to Launch BrokerTec Chicago with Major Banks Trading U.S. Treasuries

CME Group has announced that Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley will participate in trading cash U.S. Treasuries on BrokerTec Chicago when it launches on 6 October. At launch, clients will be able to trade all seven of BrokerTec’s on-the-run benchmark U.S. Treasuries, offered in smaller notional sizes and tighter price increments to align with the futures market. Access will be available through existing CME Globex connectivity, including the BrokerTec API.

The BrokerTec marketplace for fixed income trading, covering benchmark U.S. Treasuries and U.S. and EU repo transactions, is operated by CME Group. In the first quarter of this year, it set a record with a $1.05 trillion single-day average daily notional volume across its trading platforms. CME Group also reported a record 8.8 million average daily contracts traded in its U.S. Treasury futures and options during 2025.

FCA Consults on LSEG Rooftop Access Proposals to Address Competition Concerns

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is investigating whether the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and the landlord of its data centre building have restricted competition in the supply of low latency connectivity services (LLCS) between certain UK trading venues. Currently, only LSEG can place radio equipment on the rooftop of the data centre, which is crucial for providing high-speed connections between trading venues such as the LSE, Cboe Europe and ICE. The FCA is concerned this exclusivity could disadvantage rival LLCS providers.

To address these concerns, LSEG and the landlord have proposed ending LSEG’s exclusive rooftop rights. Under the commitments, LSEG would retain use of only part of the rooftop, while equivalent space would be made available to third parties on fair and reasonable terms. The FCA considers the proposals may resolve the competition issues and has launched a consultation before making a final decision on whether to accept the commitments and close its investigations.

Canoe Intelligence Launches Canoe Labs to Advance AI-Driven Alternatives Workflows

Canoe Intelligence has announced the launch of Canoe Labs, a dedicated incubator designed to develop next-generation workflows for the alternatives industry. The platform provides investment and operations professionals with early access to emerging AI capabilities, refining them in real-time through direct user engagement.

At launch, Canoe Labs introduces two core features: AI-powered document summarisation, which condenses lengthy fund documents and synthesises insights across multiple reports, and real-time language translation, enabling accurate processing of global investment materials without delays or misinterpretation. Both tools are designed with alts-specific terminology in mind, offering greater accuracy than generic AI solutions.

Canoe Labs is built on Canoe AI, the company’s proprietary architecture trained over 12 years exclusively on alternative investment documents.

Bybit Adopts Nasdaq’s Market Surveillance to Strengthen EU Compliance

Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is adopting Nasdaq’s Market Surveillance platform to bolster its ability to detect and prevent market abuse in European markets. The move, operating under Bybit EU, is designed to ensure compliance with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), which requires digital asset exchanges to implement strict monitoring and reporting systems.

Nasdaq’s surveillance technology, used by more than 50 exchanges and 20 regulators worldwide, provides advanced tools and tailored features for crypto markets. Its flexible, modular design will support Bybit EU’s growth while meeting local regulatory requirements. Built on three decades of development, the platform integrates sophisticated algorithms and benefits from Nasdaq’s ongoing investment in research and infrastructure, reinforcing global market integrity and aligning with evolving international standards.