12 March 2025
RUSI (2025) ¦ Women in Anti-Financial Crime: Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders
Women in Anti‑Financial Crime: Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders
The Royal United Services Institute’s webinar, “Women in Anti‑Financial Crime: Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders”, brought together practitioners from public and private sectors to discuss representation, mentorship, practical barriers and everyday leadership. The event opened from a place of candid reflection: panels at major conferences often under‑represent women, and that visibility gap has real consequences for young professionals deciding whether economic‑crime and anti‑money‑laundering (AML) work is somewhere they can belong and lead. The discussion made clear that increasing female leadership is not a women‑only issue — it benefits organizations, men included, and improves the resilience and humanity of the whole sector.
Representation: diagnosing the leak in the pipeline
Speakers described the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and many national and regional bodies as “melting pots” of jurisdictions at very different stages on gender equality. On paper, entry‑level participation often looks balanced; but as responsibilities rise — project leads, heads of delegation, co‑chairs — women become markedly fewer. FATF statistics presented in the session showed stark drop‑offs: women account for a small fraction of heads of delegation and co‑chairs, numbers that only recently began to improve. This is not a matter of talent; it is a matter of opportunity, culture and institutional design that fails to sustain careers through the moments where people make care and family choices, or when women are deterred by roles that demand long, unpredictable time commitments.
Practical interventions that work
The webinar picked up on concrete FATF measures and practical workplace practices that help close the gap. FATF actions include publishing gender parity data for participation in assessment teams and project leadership, creating dedicated mentorship programs, and building networking opportunities into plenaries and meetings rather than relegating gender issues to side panels. On standards, FATF’s updated guidance pushing for flexible, risk‑based non‑face‑to‑face customer due diligence was highlighted as a meaningful change that can improve financial inclusion for women — many of whom lack formal IDs or regular access to branches and phones — while keeping appropriate safeguards.
From rules to lived experience: why both matter
Speakers emphasized the dual nature of progress: institutional reforms must be accompanied by change at the personal and social level. Leaders must recognize everyday frictions — lack of flexible arrangements, unstated expectations about presenteeism, and routine micro‑incidents of inappropriate remarks — and address them not as rare outrages but as recurrent, solvable workplace realities. The “breaking barriers” booklet from FATF was referenced as capturing this balance: improvements in policy are essential, but individuals also need tools to navigate internalized doubts and social expectations.
Mentorship, sponsorship and allies: the difference they make
A recurring theme was the distinction between mentorship and sponsorship and the need for both. Mentorship provides a confidential space to reflect and problem‑solve; sponsorship actively advocates for tangible opportunities and promotions. Practical advice for mentees included being concrete: define the scope, duration and goals of a mentoring relationship and treat it as a real commitment. For potential mentors and sponsors, speakers urged listening first and acting deliberately to “spot” talent and remove obstacles — not by prescribing what a junior needs but by asking what would help them thrive. Importantly, allies should include men. Men currently occupy many leadership roles and must hear the reality of barriers and be part of practical solutions.
Work design, caregiving and flexible practices
Panelists shared direct experience about how rigid work cultures push people out. Examples ranged from being denied flexible hours unless one relinquished a leadership role, to the difficulties of long, on‑site assessment commitments that deter otherwise capable candidates. The pandemic proved that many functions can operate hybrid or remotely, and several panelists argued for preserving those gains. Public sector organizations face particular pressure to return staff on site, but many FIUs and agencies are keeping hybrid models to retain staff who live remotely or carry caregiving duties. Family‑friendly measures — practical supports such as dedicated quiet spaces for children during occasional days at the office, explicit hybrid policies, and normalized conversations about caregiving needs — were named as concrete retention tools.
Leadership style: human qualities over gendered templates
Speakers rejected the notion that effective leadership must mimic a single, gendered style. What leaders need are a mixture of qualities — decisiveness in crises, empathy in tough personal moments, clarity in expectations — and the ability to adapt. The panel acknowledged that women can be described as “bossy” or “emotional” in ways men rarely are, and that these labels often mask legitimate expectations about behavior. The necessary response is not to mimic masculinity but to be deliberate about leadership choices and to normalize different approaches so that authenticity — rather than gendered conformity — becomes the benchmark.
Everyday tactics for changing culture
Beyond policy, the webinar gave practical, immediate tactics that people at every level can use to shift culture:
- Speak up and normalize calling out inappropriate remarks; small interventions (asking someone to repeat an inappropriate comment so it becomes obviously unacceptable) can be effective.
- Encourage visible role modeling: senior staff should share not only successes but also the practical trade‑offs they manage (childcare, health, carer responsibilities) so junior staff see realistic routes forward.
- Make sponsorship visible: signal that providing stretch assignments, speaking nominations and assessment places to underrepresented colleagues is an explicit organizational priority.
- Design opportunities with accessibility in mind: advertise roles and training where target groups can actually see and apply for them, and ensure application processes are accessible.
The wider case: why greater equality helps everyone Speakers stressed that diverse leadership improves outcomes for organizations and broadens the types of problems we can solve. For example, FATF’s work on financial inclusion and on online child sexual exploitation has direct gendered impact: women are less likely to have digital IDs or mobile access, and girls are substantially more vulnerable to certain online harms. A sector that better reflects the populations it serves is more likely to spot those risks and design appropriate mitigations.
Practical next steps for the community To increase women’s participation and leadership in anti‑financial crime work, the community should:
- Keep parity data public and routine so awareness becomes actionable;
- Expand mentorship and formal sponsorship programs with clear expectations and timeframes;
- Preserve hybrid and flexible working arrangements that enable sustained participation in demanding roles;
- Create specific pathways for assessment‑team participation that mitigate short‑term time constraints (e.g., shorter on‑site shifts, shared roles, rotational assessment positions);
- Encourage men to be active allies and sponsors, and to support a culture where vulnerability and caregiving are normalized for all genders.
Conclusion: sustained attention, practical action
The RUSI webinar made a straightforward case: improving women’s representation in anti‑financial crime is not merely symbolic. It requires ongoing organizational commitment, practical adjustments to how work is designed and staffed, deliberate sponsorship, and everyday cultural changes that allow different leadership styles to flourish. Progress will be sustained not by single speeches but by systematic habits — tracking data, named sponsorship, flexible work models, and the daily willingness of people in power to create space for others. When those things happen, the community becomes stronger, more humane and more effective at tackling the complex financial crimes of our era.