Sam Samod
Partner, Forensic Services and Financial Crime Technology, PwC Canada
Sam is a Partner in Forensic Services specializing in Financial Crime Technology. Based in Toronto, he brings more than 20 years of experience in system implementation, data analytics, regulatory compliance, and risk management. His background includes a broad range of financial information systems and applications covering retail banking, wealth management, and capital markets. He has led engagements in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Caribbean.
Sam is a certified management consultant and serves as a trusted advisor to global banks, crown corporations, regulatory bodies, and central banks. Over the span of his career, he has focused primarily on leveraging data to bring insights to complex problems. Starting from CRM to Basel II, AML, and Fraud, all of his projects have been large-scale and transformational. Each experience builds on the previous one, giving him an appreciation for the interconnectivity between customers, accounts, and transactions. He uses data to tell stories and believes in data quality as a strategic asset.
Prior to joining PwC, Sam worked in industry with several banks. These experiences enable him to understand operational challenges facing financial crime monitoring, investigation, and reporting. He recognizes that at the end of fancy analytics and algorithms, there is always a human element. Somebody has to review, investigate, and report. The industry has been plagued by false positives which are costly and non-productive. For this reason, he is an avid advocate of innovative approaches to detect and prevent money laundering and fraud.
