The third annual survey on financial crime in the MENA region, a joint initiative of Thomson Reuters and Deloitte, follows two previous surveys on the same topic. The surveys are conducted in the same month of each year with the same audience sample and contain a set of core questions. The reports from the survey will eventually form part of a longitudinal study that tracks changing norms and standards in the fight against financial crime in the MENA region. From the responses, we identified four key themes: • Pressure to comply intensifies • Regulatory game changer • Senior leadership – missing in action? • The continued rise of technology Last year’s top concern was how to cope with regulatory updates, and we saw that regulatory fatigue was becoming a very real concern for many compliance departments. Unfortunately, this survey’s results showed that the situation remained the same and whilst it may be understandable in the face of a regulatory avalanche, regulatory fatigue is not an acceptable defense. Getting support from senior managers and securing their assistance to create the appropriate culture and awareness was a particularly notable theme in last year’s report, and this year responses revealed that many compliance officers are still struggling with what they perceive is a lack of support from senior management. It seems that active communication from senior management with the rest of the staff, as a method of raising awareness of the importance of compliance, and setting the right tone within the organization, is not a priority for many members of senior management. Any increases in the compliance budget are spent on improving the sophistication of the compliance program as a way of coping with the increased pressure, but there is a need to be able to justify the substantial associated costs. Money laundering remains a top concern for compliance officers, and cybercrime, an issue that seemed to be somewhat neglected in previous years, is beginning to receive more attention. Reputation is still one of the biggest concerns for executives, and is probably a major driver of the surge in risk assessment requests in a bid to measure progress. It was noted, however, that almost half of risk assurance processes relied on internal resources only, which may not always deliver objective reporting. With the growing demand for an increasing sophisticated technological response to compliance pressure, it’s not surprising that there is equal growth in demand for a specific skill set. It is no surprise therefore that training is becoming a more topical issue for many compliance and senior executives, especially as they need to be able to justify their investment in expensive technology. To maximize the usefulness and potential of the expensive technology requires the right skill set.