Introducing the TrustSphere RiskTech Index

Fraud, money laundering, scams, mule accounts, synthetic identity, sanctions evasion and cyber-enabled financial crime are no longer separate problems.

They are increasingly connected.

For banks, fintechs, payment firms and other regulated entities, this creates a major challenge. Risk teams are being asked to respond faster, detect more complex threats, reduce false positives, improve customer experience, and meet rising regulatory expectations, often with technology stacks that were not designed for the pace or complexity of today’s financial crime environment.

At the same time, the market for Fraud, AML and Financial Crime technology has become crowded and difficult to navigate.

There are hundreds of vendors offering solutions across transaction monitoring, enterprise fraud management, identity verification, behavioural biometrics, KYC and KYB, sanctions screening, adverse media, case management, scam detection, mule detection, crypto analytics, API fraud, bot detection and risk orchestration.

Many of these technologies are genuinely innovative. Some are highly specialised. Others overlap heavily. Some are suitable for Tier 1 banks, while others are better suited to fintechs, payment firms, digital banks, remittance companies or smaller regulated entities.

The challenge for buyers is no longer simply finding technology.

The challenge is knowing how to evaluate it.

That is why we have launched the TrustSphere RiskTech Index.

The TrustSphere RiskTech Index is designed to provide a structured, practical and independent view of the technology providers shaping the future of fraud, AML and financial crime detection.

Our objective is simple: to make it easier for regulated entities to assess technology with greater confidence, consistency and evidence.

The Index looks beyond basic vendor claims and marketing language. It considers the real-world questions that matter to financial institutions:

What problem does the technology actually solve?

Is it focused on fraud, AML, onboarding, identity, screening, case management, transaction monitoring, scam detection, mule detection or investigation workflows?

Is it suitable for a Tier 1 bank, a regional bank, a virtual bank, a fintech, a PSP, a remittance firm, an insurer, a securities firm or another regulated entity?

• Can it be deployed in practice?

• Does it integrate with existing systems?

• Does it support real-time detection where required?

• Can decisions be explained to compliance, audit, senior management and regulators?

• Does it reduce false positives, improve detection, lower fraud losses, increase investigator productivity or improve the quality of suspicious activity reporting?

• Does the vendor understand regulatory expectations around governance, auditability, model risk, data privacy, outsourcing and third-party risk?

These are the questions that increasingly determine whether a technology is genuinely fit for purpose.

The TrustSphere RiskTech Index has been developed to help bring more structure to those decisions.

We assess vendors across key areas including product capability, use case clarity, regulatory alignment, sector suitability, deployment maturity, explainability, operational impact, innovation and commercial fit.

The aim is not simply to rank companies.

The aim is to help regulated entities understand the market more clearly.

A behavioural biometrics provider should not be evaluated in the same way as an AML transaction monitoring platform. A sanctions data provider should not be compared directly with a KYC orchestration platform. A fintech-focused fraud tool may be highly effective in one environment but unsuitable for a complex global bank without the right governance, deployment and audit controls.

Context matters.

This is where we believe TrustSphere can add value.

The TrustSphere RiskTech Index will continue to evolve as the market develops. We will keep reviewing new vendors, emerging technologies, regulatory developments and practical buying considerations. We will also use the Index as the foundation for monthly market reviews and consultation papers covering the most important themes in fraud, AML and financial crime technology.

These reviews will focus on the issues that regulated entities are actively dealing with, including:

• Scam and mule account detection

• The convergence of fraud and AML into FRAML

• AI in transaction monitoring and alert triage

• KYC and KYB orchestration

• Behavioural biometrics and passive risk signals

• Synthetic identity and document fraud

• Sanctions screening and adverse media

• Case management and investigation automation

• Real-time payments risk

• Financial crime technology governance

The purpose is to move beyond vendor noise and provide practical guidance that banks and other regulated entities can use.

Financial crime risk is changing quickly. Regulatory expectations are increasing. Customers expect fast, seamless digital services. Criminal networks are exploiting gaps between fraud, AML, cyber and compliance teams.

Technology alone will not solve these problems.

But the right technology, properly evaluated, properly implemented and properly governed, is now essential.

The TrustSphere RiskTech Index is intended to support that process.

We welcome input from banks, fintechs, payment firms, regulators, consultants, investors and technology providers as we continue to build out the Index and refine the evaluation framework.

Our goal is to create a trusted, practical and useful resource for the industry.

One that helps regulated entities ask better questions, make better technology decisions and strengthen their ability to detect and prevent financial crime.

The TrustSphere RiskTech Index is now live as an evolving market intelligence asset.

This is the beginning of a broader conversation about what good financial crime technology should look like, how it should be evaluated, and how the industry can raise standards together.