Themis Podcasts

Episode 17: Trouble in Paradise - and interview with Oliver Bullough

Corporate secrecy and financial crime have long gone hand in hand. Hidden wealth is stashed away in shell companies with obscure owners, whose roles in tales of grand-scale corruption go long unexposed. Although recent years have seen a wave of momentum to unveil some of these ultimate beneficial owners, much more still needs to be done to increase corporate transparency and dismantle the system’s abuse by organised criminals and corrupt politicians.In March, Henry Williams, Head of Investigations at Themis, sat down with Oliver Bullough, investigative journalist and award-winning author of “Moneyland”, to hear his thoughts about this dark underside of the global financial system.This podcast is brought to you by Themis, with thanks to our partners Encompass.

Episode 16: Engaging development finance against modern slavery

In this podcast we talk to James Cockayne, John Sam-Kubam and Mark Eckstein about the many ways in which modern slavery is relevant to development finance institutions (DFIs). We discuss both the financial crime and ESG perspectives on tackling modern slavery in the development finance context, and also explore how slavery reduction could form more of an explicit objective of DFIs’ lending and investment decisions.

Episode 15: Detect and Disrupt - Intelligence Sharing to Disrupt Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

We discuss the challenges faced by organisations, as well as the best practices businesses can enact to ensure that when they detect signs of MSHT these crimes are swiftly disrupted.

Episode 14: Picking up the Pieces – Recent Developments in the 1MDB scandal

As many of our listeners will know, 1MDB is synonymous with the largest financial fraud of the century, whose tentacles extend across the dark economy from Hollywood stars, complicit bankers and lawyers to Wealthy Arab princes and corrupt political dynasties. This is the story of how one man’s greed fed an ever growing web of deceit, that snowballs into corporate malfeasance and state sponsored corruption on a truly horrific scale.Following on from our earlier podcast in February, Dickon Johnstone, CEO of Themis sat down for another catch up with “Billion Dollar Whale” co-author and Wall Street Journal reporter Bradley Hope, to pick up the pieces and talk about the latest developments in the scandal that just keeps on giving. This podcast is brought to you by Themis with thanks to our partners Encompass.

Episode 13: Being Accountable - Modern slavery and the accountancy profession

In this podcast we talk to representatives from PwC, the University of South Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales about modern slavery and the accountancy profession. We discuss how modern slavery is relevant to accountants and explore ways in which they can engage with the topic.As leading abolitionist William Wilberforce once said, "You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know". A quote from Dr Katherine Christ on this podcast.This podcast is brought to you as part of our outreach phase of our research into Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in the Financial Services sector, commissioned by the UK Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner and carried out in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation, and supported by TSB, NatWest Group and RedCompass.

Episode 12: Mythbusting in Modern Slavery

In this podcast we talk to Andrew Wallis OBE about the myths surrounding modern slavery. Andrew is CEO of the charity Unseen which also runs the Modern Slavery Helpline. Earlier this year Themis commissioned research of the financial sector which found that nearly 40% of financial services professionals don't believe modern slavery existas in the UK. Andew explains why this impression is misguided and the many forms in which firms are likely to encounter modern slavery.This Podcast is brought to you as part of a key industry-wide research project commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and delivered in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation and Themis. It is one of a series of focus groups and round-tables we will be releasing that address Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and the Financial Sector.

Episode 11: Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking - Understanding the regulatory landscape

This Podcast is brought to you as part of a key industry-wide research project commissioned by the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and delivered in partnership with Tribe Freedom Foundation and Themis. It is one of a series of focus groups and round-tables we will be releasing that address Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and the Financial Sector.In this podcast MD of Themis Community, Viri Chauhan speaks with representatives from Barclays, Bates Group and RedCompass about the current regulatory provision working to tackle Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking risk in Financial Institutions and discuss whether more should be done by regulators.

Episode 10: Financing of Terrorism - The Role of ISIS and Modern Slavery

This is the 2nd in a series of 2 podcasts this summer on the financing of terrorism. Viri Chauhan talks to Professor Nic Ryder on specific terrorist threats from ISIS and how this has evolved to the connections with Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Developments in the regulatory landscape for terrorist financing are discussed and examples of best practice in the UK such as the work done by JMLIT – the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce is discussed. Practical recommendations are also provided to help organisations keep up with emerging threats.

Episode 9: What is Terrorist Financing?

"Terrorism financiers have a fraud dossier - a black book if you like - of what low-level fraud they can commit which will avoid detection by law enforcement agencies”.In our latest podcast Themis' Viri Chauhan is in conversation with Dr Nicholas Ryder - a professor in financial crime and an expert in Terrorist Financing. They discuss the basics and delve deeper into how terrorism is financed through legitimate companies, organisations and even the charitable sector. They also talk about what organisations should be doing to help mitigate this threat within their own organisations."9/11 was a catalyst. After 9/11, there was a plethora of initiatives - international, regional and domestic laws - which formed part of what George Bush famously referred to… as the global war on terrorism. What we found is that no one really defined… the financial aspects of the global war on terrorism"This is the first in a 2 part series exploring the world of terrorist financing.

Episode 8: Fighting Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in Financial Institutions

In this episode Viri Chauhan from Themis talks with Tom Hewson and Jonathan Bell from Red Compass on their journey on how they have successfully launched their innovative product – RedFlag Accelerator.
A comprehensive approach to mitigating the risks of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking which is provided free for use and adoption in banks and financial institutions.