Markus Schulz is chief technology officer at K2 Integrity. With over 30 years of experience in the financial services sector and a career deeply dedicated to financial crimes compliance (FCC) and anti-financial crime (AFC) risk management, Markus leads the development and advancement of K2 Integrity’s cutting-edge RegTech solutions, driving innovation and effectiveness in the fight against financial crime.
Markus has spent the past two decades in senior global roles at leading Tier 1 financial institutions covering all continents. He has successfully remediated five global regulatory orders and monitorships, establishing industry-leading control frameworks that are both effective and efficient.
Most recently, Markus was group MLRO and global head of FCC Group Compliance at ING, where as part of a major remediation he served as transformation lead for the financial crimes compliance organization with the mandate to build a balanced counterweight to ING’s First Line of Defense (1LOD) KYC organization. Markus conducted a global maturity assessment of the organization’s AML/CFT, sanctions, ABC, and tax compliance controls framework and defined a workplan to further develop the sustainability of the controls and embed them throughout the organization, by leading the FEC Controls Maturity Program (FCMP) across the first and second LOD. In addition, he developed the industry’s first operational effectiveness (OE) framework, supported by a consequence management framework, to enable the organization to continuously assess its operational effectiveness and make necessary corrections.
Prior to his time at ING, Markus was global head FCC controls at Standard Chartered Bank, where he helped SCB through a major remediation, overhauling all process, people, and technology aspects across FCC, including AML, sanctions, and ABC. He managed a portfolio of more than 40 simultaneous projects and change programs across 47 countries, helping the organization to emerge from underneath the orders ahead of schedule and successfully transform its business and regulatory relationships.
Passionate about shaping the future of financial crimes compliance, Markus focuses on modernizing the industry with an emphasis on advanced surveillance techniques. He is an active collaborator with influential organizations such as the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime (GCFFC), Wolfsberg Group, Egmont Group, Basel Institute on Governance, FATF, and the European Commission (a.o.). Through his leadership, he has driven impactful industry-wide initiatives addressing trade and economic sanctions, AML, FATCA, and business ethics.
As co-chair of the GCFFC Technology ThinkTank and former chair of the ACAMS® Advisory Board, Markus is recognized as a thought leader and pioneer in the AFC space. He is a sought-after speaker and moderator at global conferences and summits and has authored numerous influential publications.
