Combatting Modern Slavery

Industry Event: EY & BPFI come together for an event to spotlight how FS can combat modern slavery in Ireland

On 14th September 2023, we re-grouped for the Combatting Modern Slavery lunch where we focused on the actions we can take together to drive positive change in addressing this important issue.

EY & BPFI Modern Slavery Hackathon

On 4th May 2023, EY and the BPFI co-hosted our unique Modern Slavery Hackathon. The event surpassed all expectations, our sincere thanks to those of you who attended and expressed interest.

Our collective aim

We live in uncertain times. Global health crises, wars, and natural disasters have created mass displacement, resulting in an environment that allows criminals exploit vulnerable people for profit.

EY and the BPFI believe financial institutions are key to decelerating the growth of modern slavery and human trafficking. Together, we can build and leverage effective controls to detect the diverse financial flows associated with these crimes and prevent the onboarding of traffickers.

Our aim was to bring a diverse group of individuals, across financial institutions, law enforcement, the CBI, solution vendors and NGOs to start a conversation about how we can collaboratively stem the flow of funds to criminals, while keeping the victim in mind.

With over 50 attendees, representing 25 organisations, insights from numerous thought leaders and a uniquely collaborative atmosphere, we believe we have all succeeded in taking this first step.

The day

Attendees heard presentations, demonstrations and panel discussions from speakers who provided unique perspectives on Modern Slavery and how we can combat it:

• Linda Latham, HSE, Director of Nursing Social Inclusion, gave a keynote on the impact modern slavery has on victims,
• Pat Lordan, Detective Chief Superintendent, GNECB, represented the Garda perspective on money laundering and modern slavery,
• Seána Cunningham, CBI, Director of Enforcement and AML, helped us understand the regulators perspective,
• Neil Giles, Traffik Analysis Hub, CEO (Stop the Traffik), demonstrated how NGOs see Financial Services playing a role,
• John McGrath, Leader of IBM Technology for Good, provided an inspiring demonstration of the Infinitech solution developed with Stop the Traffik,
• Daniel Kelly, Detective Inspector Protective Services, helped us understand the intersection between “following the money” and the real-world impact of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Attendees were then broken into four teams and tasked with creating a solution to our problem statement, using tools provided by EY:

“How can Financial Institutions take a collaborative, data-driven approach to identifying and reporting indicators of modern slavery.”

The four ideas presented by attendees demonstrate the depth of knowledge and creativity we can harness across industries to help address this pressing humanitarian issue:

Team 1: “Link-in” & Team 2 – “Actelligence”

Link-in: Our first team came up with a solution called “Link-in,” named for Abraham Lincoln as a nod to the abolition of slavery in America. This solution called for a centralised data dashboard shared between financial institutions in real time to allow for the cross-industry identification of suspicious activity.

Actelligence: Our second teams solution, “Actelligence,” called for actionable intelligence across institutions to enable the generation of alerts indicating modern slavery across the financial system, allowing the profits associated with modern slavery to be tracked and reported to law enforcement on a cross-institution basis rather than relying on the current siloed approach

Team 3 & Team 4 – “Act Now & Go Further”

Team 3: Team 3 designed a framework for a joint intelligence hub that can be used to share and create actionable intelligence and typologies and demonstrate links between victims and traffickers.

Team 4: Our winners, “Act Now & Go Further,” took a practical approach to the problem statement that kept the human impact of modern slavery at its core. They called for a cross-industry pilot of Infintech with input from NGOs and government bodies who amplify the voices of victims, ensuring a victim centred use of the technology.

Looking to the future

EY and the BPFI intended this event to galvanise and empower attendees to take a collaborative approach to combatting modern slavery.

Our key takeaways from the day were that we cannot move forward without collaboration and that the industry is keen to amplify victim’s voices to gather indicators of this crime.

This event is the start of a journey. We are committed to driving the change needed to combat modern slavery within the financial services sector.