We spoke with Eric Wagner, expert in anti-money laundering and sanctions at Raiffeisen Bank International and Advisory Board Member of FALCON, about how financial institutions can better tackle complex corruption and financial crime — and what role projects like FALCON can play.
His perspective confirms that improving detection is not just a question of better tools, but of better data, stronger collaboration, and solutions that work in real compliance practice. FALCON addresses this by combining structured data, cross-sector collaboration, and explainable methods.
The priority use cases emerging from FALCON’s stakeholder consultation closely align with the challenges Eric Wagner highlights in the compliance field: Anti-money laundering, sanctions circumvention and fraud detection were identified by the project’s stakeholder community, including banking representatives, as the most relevant application areas for the financial sector.
Key takeaways from the interview
- Advanced analytics need better data foundations
Detecting complex, cross-border corruption patterns requires access to structured, interconnected datasets. Fragmented systems significantly limit what banks can see. - Current tools still fall short in practice
Many commercial solutions lack interoperability, transparency, and adaptability. This makes it difficult to integrate data, explain results, and respond quickly to new threats. - Cross-sector collaboration is essential
Bringing together banks, law enforcement, financial intelligence units, and academia helps align investigative and compliance perspectives — and improves how risks are identified and addressed. - Standardised data enables better cross-border detection
Harmonised and structured data, especially in payments, is critical to identify patterns that span multiple jurisdictions. - Explainability is a key requirement for real-world use
AI in compliance must provide clear reasoning and auditability. Without this, it is difficult to use such systems in regulatory environments.
- Early engagement creates both practical and strategic value
Being involved early allows financial institutions to shape tools around real compliance needs and gain hands-on experience with emerging methods. At the same time, it enables them to contribute operational insights to policy development — helping ensure that future regulatory frameworks are both effective and workable in practice. - FALCON lowers the barrier to advanced compliance tools
By combining publicly funded research with fair access conditions, FALCON makes advanced anti-corruption capabilities more accessible, especially for smaller institutions.
FALCON’s access model
FALCON’s access model is designed around this need. Public-sector bodies, such as law enforcement and anti-corruption authorities, receive access to the project results royalty-free for their operational, non-commercial tasks. Private entities, including financial institutions, engage under fair and reasonable licensing conditions and, at the current maturity of the tools, primarily through validation and co-development partnerships.
This clear distinction between public and commercial access is precisely what makes the FALCON results attractive to banks: a transparent and predictable cost structure, with only the underlying commercial data licensed separately.
