What’s Broken in KYC and AML? Fixes in 2026 for Compliance Teams

The defining challenge for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) right now is speed. Customer risk profiles now shift faster than traditional review cycles can track, while illicit financial activity is increasingly fragmented into smaller, harder to detect flows. For compliance teams, 2026 isn't just another year of incremental change; it's the year where "business as usual" becomes a liability. To stay ahead, firms must shift their focus from static checklists to dynamic, living risk management.

Why Static Compliance is Failing

Traditional compliance models rely on periodic refreshes: reviews that happen every one, three or five years. In the current landscape, these static intervals struggle to reflect real-world changes. A customer’s ownership structure, geographic exposure or product usage can change in a single day.

When customer profiles are outdated, every downstream monitoring and investigation starts from flawed assumptions. This weakens the entire control framework. To fix this, firms must transition toward perpetual KYC (pKYC). This shift moves the industry away from calendar-based updates and toward event-driven triggers. By integrating onboarding, monitoring and screening, firms can ensure that risk profiles stay current and that every decision is backed by a clear evidence trail.

Fix #1: Implement Perpetual KYC and Event-Driven Triggers

The first priority for compliance teams is moving toward a dynamic Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) model. The objective is to maintain a clear evidence trail that shows what changed and exactly how the firm responded.

Regulation is already mandating this shift. The European Union (EU) Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) now requires customer data and documentation to be kept up to date. Refresh intervals are explicitly linked to risk, capped at one year for higher-risk customers and five years for others. By July 10, 2026, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will issue guidance on ongoing and transaction monitoring. This move will raise the bar on what regulators consider effective, continuous oversight. Firms that invest in technology enabling live risk management now will be better positioned to reduce customer friction while strengthening financial crime controls.

Fix #2: Harden Defenses Against AI-Driven Identity Fraud

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is intensifying the arms race in financial crime. While machine learning helps firms detect complex patterns, criminals are using the same tools to probe controls and scale deception.

Identity has become the most visible battleground. Europol has warned about the growing use of deepfakes and synthetic media for impersonation and document fraud. To fix this, compliance teams must prioritize auditable AI. Regulators and boards are no longer satisfied with "black box" solutions; they demand explainability and accountability. The competitive advantage in 2026 will come from deploying AI supported by strong data governance and clear ownership. Firms must be able to explain not just what their controls are, but why they were designed that way and how they work together.

Fix #3: Close Visibility Gaps in Fragmented Crypto Flows

Crypto-related risk remains a major pressure point. Digital assets provide attractive channels for illicit activity, but the tactics are evolving. We are seeing a rise in micro-laundering through creator-economy rails like tipping services, subscription platforms and digital marketplaces.

These environments are designed for high-volume, low-value transactions, allowing illicit flows to blend into legitimate behavior. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has highlighted a growing concentration of illicit activity involving stablecoins and a significant uptick in fraud and scam activity. Compliance teams must fix their visibility gaps by ensuring crypto-adjacent exposure is fully covered across onboarding, transaction monitoring and Travel Rule compliance.

Fix #4: Align with Global Regulatory Reform

A wave of regulatory reform will reshape AML and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) obligations in 2026.

• In the UK: Mandatory Companies House identity verification for directors and beneficial owners is set to strengthen corporate transparency. This raises expectations for Know Your Business (KYB) processes as official registries become more reliable.
• In the EU: The rollout of EU Digital Identity Wallets may alter how identity assertions are delivered and reused in onboarding workflows.
• In Australia: The “Tranche 2” reforms begin on July 1, 2026, bringing lawyers, accountants and real estate agents into the AML/CTF regime.

From Defensive Obligation to Operational Efficiency

In 2026, compliance cannot be a reactive, back-office function. The firms that succeed will be those that build living risk profiles, strengthen governance and adopt technology in a way that remains transparent and defensible. Done well, compliance moves beyond a defensive obligation and becomes a source of operational resilience and improved customer experience.