Money20/20: AI, Compliance and the Future of Trust and Safety

AI, compliance, and trust and safety measures are the financial services industry’s guiding lights to its future.

Those topics formed the foundation of two Money20/20 USA speaking sessions with leaders from Trulioo, J.P. Morgan Payments, Walmart, OpenAI, eBay Payments and Onbe. They discussed AI and advanced compliance strategies that can reshape how fintech companies engage with legitimate and fraudulent users across the global digital landscape.

As digital financial services grow more complex, organizations are finding themselves searching for the right path to an AI-driven future. The two speaking sessions delivered five key insights designed to light the way.

1. Generative AI: New Challenges, New Opportunities

Generative AI is transforming digital trust and safety, and industry experts are no stranger to its potential. AI automation frees up valuable resources, allowing teams to focus on higher-level strategic initiatives.

However, AI’s rapid growth is a double-edged sword for the fintech industry. Organizations face the challenge of expanding their defenses beyond run-of-the-mill fraud to counter increasingly malicious AI, such as deepfake attacks during digital identity verification.

“We see a lot of headlines about things going bad with generative AI, and we hear about breaches, fakes and synthesized images,” said Hal Lonas, Trulioo chief technology officer. “But there’s also an opportunity on the defense side, where you have to fight the machines with the machines.”

2. A Winning Combination: Human Intelligence With AI

AI integration requires thoughtful strategies aligned with company goals, regulations and customer protection. That starts with testing AI in a low-risk environment, allowing organizations to build confidence while learning from early successes and failures.

“What we’ve seen with our customers is that it can look like a huge challenge, and one opportunity we see is that you can get started slowly,” Lonas said. “Where am I putting resources today, especially human beings, to detect fraud? How can I take the low-hanging fruit and turn those easier tasks over to AI?”

But even with AI taking care of low-stakes tasks, the human touch is essential for nuanced decision-making and complex onboarding scenarios. When organizations pair human expertise with AI capabilities, they can increase productivity while maintaining customer trust and safety, particularly during identity verification and onboarding.

3. A Strategic AI Defense Plan: Customization and Collaboration

AI-driven verification capabilities at their best aren’t set-it-and-forget-it tools. Customized onboarding technology, ongoing optimization and constant collaboration with a verification vendor can give organizations AI agility that helps them stay ahead of evolving fraud attacks.

That partnership forms the foundation for an advanced AI strategy that can tailor identity verification to each customer’s risk profile.

But enterprises, particularly those that operate worldwide, face the challenge of sifting through a crowded vendor landscape to find the partner that can deliver that customization. The first step is arriving at a clear definition of the organization’s onboarding challenges and compliance requirements.

Asking vendors targeted questions helps ensure verification technology aligns with business goals and leads to customized implementations that provide a proactive, AI-driven fraud defense.

4. Regulatory Technology: Compliance as a Competitive Advantage

Compliance is more than just a box to check. It’s a key business strategy for building customer trust and strengthening reputation.

Global enterprises, though, face a regulatory world in constant motion. The technology they use to achieve compliance, at onboarding and beyond, has to match that motion by quickly adapting to evolving business, industry and regulatory needs and risks in markets across the globe.

Organizations gain that flexibility when they apply customized Know Your Customer and Know Your Business checks informed by ongoing risk assessments. The alignment of sound compliance practices and resilient, sophisticated onboarding technology can turn regulatory obligations into opportunities for sustainable, competitive growth.

5. A Unified Front: The Right Blend of Fraud and AML Strategies

Fraud detection and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) functions are increasingly intertwined. That integration allows organizations to identify immediate and long-term threats.

Fraud detection can involve real-time alerts for unusual behavior, while AML can zero in on cumulative trends, such as money movement in high-risk areas. Together, they provide a comprehensive view of suspicious activity and complex fraud typologies to help organizations detect financial crime across various digital channels.

Advanced technology plays a critical role in that unified strategy. AI-driven transaction monitoring, for example, can detect complex patterns that traditional alert-based systems might miss. With the right tools in place, organizations can streamline operations, strengthen regulatory adherence and better protect their customers from financial crime.

Advanced Technology Can Be the Bedrock of Digital Security and Trust

AI, compliance, and trust and safety form the foundation for the future of digital financial services. The insights from Money20/20 give organizations a guide to building resilient, secure customer onboarding that adapts to regional idiosyncrasies and regulatory requirements across the globe.

As AI takes a central role in financial services, it offers powerful verification tools to manage fraud, achieve compliance and build the digital trust and safety that drives growth and builds long-lasting customer relationships.