ARCHITECTS OF A CLEANER FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Akinyemi explores risk, corruption, and accountability in this book, which blends financial crime investigation, sociopolitical commentary, and poetry.

In this unusual collection, Akinyemi opens with a refrain of “Know Your Customer,” a poem that weaves personal identity (e.g., a mother’s maiden name) with financial industry regulatory standards, such as “identify and verify.” In “Holes,” the speaker looks for red flags indicating money laundering. These illicit funds seek shelter and erasure of their origins. Next, the speaker must untangle the “ownership chain” to reveal the person benefitting from unlawful transactions. “Risk Appetite” considers variable risk tolerance thresholds; at its extreme, risk tolerance “hits imaginary roofs / and catapults into sinking sands.” The work notes that mitigating risk is crucial for companies, lest they face losing their reputations or going broke paying regulatory fines. Sanctions are mocked as ineffective, “a comedy show.” In “Slave of the Tax Master,” the speaker calls out the hypocrisy of a system that taxes everyday people “to the bones” while policymakers take advantage of offshore tax havens. Akinyemi likens “dirty money” to a river that crosses borders before merging with “clean money.” The poet concludes with “Compliance Poet,” which reflects on the convergence of his professional paths as an anti-money laundering specialist and author. Akinyemi’s unconventional, intriguing collection combines technical subject matter with poetic style in lines like, “Come to this compliance table cleaner / than sparkling water. / We are tilling the soil / for suspicious activity.” Most poems also include helpful footnotes. However, industry-specific acronyms (FATF, AML, and CFT) and financial regulation lingo—for example, “The three lines of defence (or 3LOD) model is an accepted regulated framework designed to facilitate an effective risk management system”—may lose readers.

An incisive, expert-level analysis of financial crime in free verse.