If we can't accept that an unqualified doctor can treat a patient or an unlicensed driver can take the wheel, then why should we accept that someone tasked with preventing financial crime, who has unfettered access to client data and where every action or inaction can cost hundreds and thousands of lives, does not have to meet a verified standard of skill?

Despite businesses spending over $300 billion every year on anti-financial crime efforts, we are clearly losing the battle. Why? We believe one of the biggest reasons is because we've failed to invest in the one thing that makes the biggest difference: people whose skills have been verified and with standards to meet.

That's what led us to create the Certified Due Diligence Professional (CDDP) program. Our goal is simple: give individuals and businesses access to a community of skilled professionals whose capabilities have been verified, not assumed.

This isn't a new idea. It's how we've always tackled complexity. In tax, in law, in accounting, driving, nursing etc. we rely on trained professionals to help us navigate systems that affect everyone. Financial crime fuels some of the worst crimes against society including human trafficking, child sex exploitation, drug trade, environmental crimes, illegal organ trade and much much more. If we want to make real progress, we must cut off the money that fuels them. That's what effective due diligence does and this is where skilled professionals are needed the most.

How do you solve a challenge of this scale if the people and businesses, who are the subject of due diligence won't engage with the businesses who have a regulatory obligation to conduct due diligence? It's simple, you do what we have always done when faced with a challenge of this nature — we deploy skilled professionals with verifiable skills to foster trust in both the subject of the due diligence (let's call them data owners) and the businesses (let's call them data consumers) who need access to data.

We think AI holds enormous promise in transforming how we fight financial crime and that is why we are going all in - but even the best technology in the world depends on the right human infrastructure to drive adoption and earn trust.

Think about it - death and taxes may be the only two certainties in life, but can you imagine meeting your tax obligations without access to skilled professionals and the right tools? The same logic applies here. Businesses and people will only embrace an AI-first solution to fight financial crime when they have access to skilled professionals who have earned their trust and reassure data owners and data consumers that they will always remain in the loop.

It's in our DNA to fear, and at times fight, what we don't fully understand - e.g., nuclear power. History shows us that trust doesn't always move at the same pace as innovation. It's rarely about what's possible, it's almost always about what people feel confident relying on. And that confidence comes when people and businesses are engaged, enabled and empowered.

Despite the hundreds of billions spent each year to fight financial crime, criminals continue to thrive, victims continue to suffer, businesses, shareholders and communities continue to pay the price. This is no longer a resource or tech problem, it's a leadership problem.

If we don't act now, we will have failed the very people who are counting on us. The victims of trafficking. Families affected by drugs. They may never know our names, but our action, or inaction, will shape their futures.

Fighting financial crime effectively means, amongst other things, making sure the people who are tasked with it have had their skills verified. That's the community we're building. But we can't do it alone.

We need leaders to set the bar higher. We need businesses, governments, individuals to stop settling for what's easy and invest in what's necessary.

Because if we don't get this right now, we would have collectively let down the most vulnerable people who are counting on us.