GFF 2026: Fintech industry should step up investments to counter risks from emerging tech, says FATF vice-president

Mumbai: Financial Action Task Force (FATF) vice-president Vivek Aggarwal on Thursday asked the fintech industry to step up their investments to counter emerging threats from AI, scam compounds and other technologies and said these challenges are a major risk to India's growth story.

Aggarwal said emerging technologies are a major challenge, along with virtual digital assets and cryptocurrencies, for FATF, which is a Paris-based body that sets global standards to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation.

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"So, whatever technological development that is happening in the field of AI, which can be used to perpetrate crime, we have to counter that and probably use the same technology to screen and find those perpetrators and act against them," Aggarwal said at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.

"It's a cat and mouse game where we have to keep on being vigilant," Aggarwal added.

Asked what is the industry underestimating as an area of risk, he said industry will have to gear up, and understand that the risks are coming either from AI or from scam compounds or other risks that are emerging from the technology or maybe quantum computing, breaking up encryptions and cryptography.

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All these risks have to be managed well within time, and also there have to be investments, he suggested.

"I would say that the management of change and the propensity to invest in countering the emerging threat would be a challenge for us," Aggarwal said, adding, industry should realise the risks that emerging technologies pose.

"The major challenge and major risk for Indian fintech is that the realisation is not there, as I understand, because the growth is very fast and the risk realisation may not be that deep, and the requirement of investment and the requirement of time and resources that are there are also not being fulfilled in the industry as of now," he said.

This is going to be the major challenge going forward and emerge as a major risk for India's growth story, and hence has to be tackled in time.