Facing compliance challenges: talent shortages, alert overload and regulatory change

4 compliance challenges putting teams under pressure

1. A function that has become critical… but is under-resourced

In many institutions, compliance teams are engaged in a race against time. Backlogs are growing, onboarding deadlines are becoming tighter, and analysts have to deal with alert volumes that are increasing faster than staffing levels or tools can adapt.

The consequences are very real:

• Difficulties in maintaining an expected level of analysis,
• Capacity trade-offs in certain controls,
• And mental overload for employees trying to keep the system running smoothly.

Underlying this is a constantly growing operational and regulatory risk.

2. A talent shortage that is becoming a risk in itself

Moreover, AML/KYC professionals are scarce. They’re highly sought after and often require long training periods. Institutions compete for the same resources, creating constant staffing pressure.

In everyday practice, this often means an inefficient use of available skills. Analysts spend most of their time on mechanical tasks such as manual research, document checks, and qualifying false positives, leaving little room for judgment, analysis, and decision-making.

The problem is not a lack of talent. It's a lack of time for talent to be expressed.

3. The explosion of alerts: a structural phenomenon

A third major compliance challenge is the constantly increasing flow of alerts generated by modernized filtering systems. Cautious or conservative settings, coupled with intensified monitoring requirements, lead to a massive volume of false positives.

Every alert, even if irrelevant, requires:

• a qualification,
• a justification,
• documentation,
• and a historical record.

It's a long, repetitive, and unrewarding task, but essential to ensure the system's robustness. Meanwhile, truly critical alerts sometimes have to wait, increasing tension within the teams and raising the risk of errors.

4. Regulations that change faster than organizations

Lastly, successive regulatory changes require institutions to have an almost permanent capacity for adaptation.

European directives, increased expectations from supervisory authorities, FATF standards, continuous monitoring, and adverse media screening all require regular updates to procedures, risk matrices, detection scenarios, and internal training.

This means that compliance is no longer a one-off program. It is a continuous flow of transformation. This flow creates a “regulatory debt” when changes are not integrated in time, with the risk of being out of step during an inspection.

Why platforms are becoming strategic for combating compliance challenges

In this context, compliance platforms are increasingly used as structuring layers rather than point solutions. Their role is not to replace expertise, but to reduce operational friction and improve consistency across processes.

In response, some organisations are turning to integrated compliance platforms that act as a structuring layer across KYC and AML/CFT processes. Harmoney is one example of such a platform, designed to orchestrate workflows and data flows rather than replace human expertise.

1. Reducing operational workload

By using compliance platforms, organisations can:

• automate repetitive tasks,
• increase the reliability of data collection and verification,
• reduce false positives,
• streamline KYC cycles and AML/CFT controls.

2. Allowing experts to focus on analysis

When mechanical tasks are reduced, compliance professionals can dedicate more time to activities that require judgment, such as complex investigations, contextual risk assessments and decision-making.

In practice, this shift is increasingly seen as essential to preserve analytical quality under sustained pressure.

3. Supporting governance and auditability

Centralised workflow orchestration and structured documentation make it easier to trace decisions, monitor exceptions and demonstrate control effectiveness during audits or supervisory reviews. This level of consistency helps organisations respond more confidently to regulatory scrutiny.

4. Contributing to a more sustainable compliance model

By absorbing part of the operational complexity, platforms such as Harmoney help reduce pressure on teams and limit dependency on individual knowledge. Over time, this contributes to more resilient compliance models, better equipped to adapt to regulatory change without continuously stretching human capacity.

Conclusion: compliance must become sustainable to remain effective

The central question is no longer:“Are we compliant today?”

It becomes:“Can our compliance model hold up in three years?”

Organizations that adopt compliance platforms capable of intelligently industrializing operations while enhancing the quality of analysis will have a decisive advantage. In this evolving landscape, compliance platforms like Harmoney enables the alignment of teams, tools, and regulatory requirements to transform pressure into sustainable performance.

Harmoney offers a cutting-edge digital platform that streamlines intricate onboarding and compliance procedures, featuring automated screening functionalities. Interested in discovering more about our innovative solution? Reach out to us for further details or stay in touch via our newsletter ⬇️.