By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
THE AML and compliance sector remains male-dominated, according to prominent industry figure Xolisile Khanyile.
Khanyile has held a variety of significant positions in the sector, including previously serving as the previous chair of the Egmont Group of FIUs and is also the former director of the South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).
Speaking at the AML Intelligence ‘Women in FinCrime Summit 2025’ on Thursday, she said it is crucial for women to continue to strive for more representation, particularly at board level.
“I always say, this is a man’s world,” she said. “If we look at the AML/CTF space, the majority is still men, especially at C-suite [level].
Xolisile Khanyile – female AML leaders
Khanyile said due to this, it is critical that high-ranking female AML leaders “take other women with you and you empower them”.
“I always say empowerment doesn’t mean give me a promotion, but give me that opportunity,” she said.
“Give me that recognition, send me to a conference to say, deliver this presentation. That’s how we grow. So women need to give other women an opportunity.”
FATF initiatives
Violaine Clerc, Executive Secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), gave examples at the conference of where the organization is pushing for change.
“It’s very important that they can first access training, so that they can, you know, build and develop their expertise,” she told the conference.
Clerc said the FATF has put in place training for women which takes place during the organization’s mutual evaluations, which monitor compliance with AML standards.
She added that the FATF has also put female-friendly facilities in place, such as “breastfeeding facilities, [and] also childcare”.
Finally, Clerc also said the FATF has put a new mentoring programme in place.
“We have just launched [a] mentoring program, which lasts one year,” she said.
“We have participants from more than 30 different countries, and this time, we also have men and women, and we will also explore the way how they can support each other and help us to move forward.”
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