FinTech Innovator Series
Stef Parker on delivering crime prevention innovation: How Bugni Labs built a groundbreaking screening platform in just four months
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An interview with
Stef Parker
Product Owner for List Screening at Lloyd's Banking Group's Economic Crime Prevention Lab
Financial crime prevention is evolving rapidly, requiring intelligent, adaptable systems that can respond to new risks quickly and effectively. At Lloyds Banking Group, Stef Parker, as Product Owner in the Economic Crime Prevention Lab, has been instrumental in delivering a next-generation list screening engine.
Working in close collaboration with Bugni Labs Fintech Engineering capability, the initiative delivered a configurable, near real-time screening engine at fintech pace and quality. The product will support a broad range of screening controls and enable rapid responses to emerging requirements. With advanced matching capabilities, explainability, and dynamic configuration, the product provides a strong foundation for future economic crime prevention controls and differentiation across the organisation.
An interview with
Stef Parker
Product Owner for List Screening at Lloyd's Banking Group's Economic Crime Prevention Lab
Financial crime prevention is evolving rapidly, requiring intelligent, adaptable systems that can respond to new risks quickly and effectively. At Lloyds Banking Group, Stef Parker, as Product Owner in the Economic Crime Prevention Lab, has been instrumental in delivering a next-generation list screening engine.
Working in close collaboration with Bugni Labs Fintech Engineering capability, the initiative delivered a configurable, near real-time screening engine at fintech pace and quality. The product will support a broad range of screening controls and enable rapid responses to emerging requirements. With advanced matching capabilities, explainability, and dynamic configuration, the product provides a strong foundation for future economic crime prevention controls and differentiation across the organisation.
It's miles ahead of any other technology we currently have... people are now changing other controls based on what we've learned here.
Stef, you've just completed a remarkable four-month journey with Bugni Labs building a greenfield screening platform. How has this changed Lloyd's crime prevention capabilities?
I expect it to massively increase our capabilities. We've already seen from what we've built so far that it's plugging so many different screening gaps, and it's miles ahead of any other technology we currently have, which is fantastic. What's particularly encouraging is that people are now changing other controls and thinking of different approaches based on what we've learned here. So I think it'll plug numerous screening gaps, improve our existing controls, and probably inform how we design and develop more controls in the future, which is wonderful.
Building from concept to production in four months sounds almost impossible for an enterprise like Lloyd's. What made this timeline achievable?
They were always really pragmatic when I'd ask, "What's the absolute minimum we must do?" Because it's challenging, right? In my role, I'm supposed to ask for the world. But when we got these timeline changes and suddenly couldn't ask for the world anymore, they were brilliant. When we started giving them challenges like, "We've only got this amount of time. What's the MVP we can create to achieve these outcomes?" they'd respond with, "Okay, we'll strip out X, Y, and Z." They were really fantastic at giving us their best recommendations on how to simplify things whilst still delivering value.
The other thing that really helped was consolidating them into just one Bugni team that could move at real pace. Originally, we'd split them across multiple teams to try and upskill some of our colleagues simultaneously, which was good for upskilling but not ideal for delivery timescales. You can see the stark difference between how quickly they can move independently versus when they're upskilling others. Together, they form a highly functioning, highly mobile team that can achieve an enormous amount in very little time.
Together, they form a highly functioning, highly mobile team that can achieve an enormous amount in very little time.
Despite being very tightly tied to that deadline, we somehow hit it despite multiple re-prioritisations.
You mentioned having to pivot suddenly in April. How did Bugni Labs handle that challenge?
We had this major pivot in our roadmap in the first week of April, which meant we went from building one very specific type of screening product to delivering something completely different. When you consider we went live on 9th July, that's realistically just two months for them to pivot completely. They were only on a steel thread by the time we changed in April, so the actual build happened within that compressed timeframe. Despite being very tightly tied to that deadline, we somehow hit it despite multiple re-prioritisations.
We all shared the same ambition - to fail fast, learn quickly, be bold, fight for the right things, and move quickly. Obviously, when you're working with a company as large as Lloyd's, moving as quickly as people would like isn't always straightforward. But they took that in their stride. They understood where the limitations were but weren't afraid to help us push boundaries. We all wanted the same outcome: to go fast, build the right solution, challenge expectations, and take it that step further than people had thought possible. They're refreshingly bold, exactly the type of approach we value.
What sets Bugni Labs apart from other strategic partners you've worked with?
I've worked with quite a few partners, and Bugni work at a pace that's basically unprecedented in my experience. They also bring a level of technical expertise and domain knowledge that's exceptional. Even when you compare them to our permanent colleagues - and I'm not diminishing our colleagues, who are excellent - the skill sets are vastly different because Bugni are true specialists.
When they work together, they're a really solid team with fantastic teamwork who achieve a lot very quickly. What I particularly appreciate is the diverse mindset. When you present a problem to the team, you often get a really healthy debate, which leads to genuinely novel solutions.
Honestly, I don't think any of this design could have been possible without Abhay. He thinks of things that most people wouldn't consider, and when you hear him speak, you think, "My goodness, that's absolutely right." It's been a joy working with him and actually learning from him on the job, seeing how his mind works.
Bugni work at a pace that's basically unprecedented in my experience... they bring a level of technical expertise and domain knowledge that's exceptional.
What I was essentially handed was an on-demand screening process that will make future deliveries significantly easier... That definitely exceeded my expectations.
What did you actually receive from this build, and how has it exceeded expectations?
Interestingly, I never actually needed what was first built, and that's not a reflection on anyone's work. We needed to demonstrate engineering value and prove that this approach worked. It was fascinating for me to let go of the reins and say, "I don't need anything specific. You build what you need and run with it."
What I was essentially handed was an on-demand screening process that will make future deliveries significantly easier. Onboarding screening is going to be much less painful, and on-demand screening with the UI, once we have it, will be substantially more streamlined. This meant we've removed some of the burden from further down our backlog, which was brilliant. That definitely exceeded my expectations - I was anticipating receiving very little at this stage.
Looking ahead, what emerging technologies excite you most for crime prevention?
One that particularly stands out is facial recognition and screening. I remember seeing an early demo of something Bugni created in this area. It's not something we currently screen for in economic crime, and biometrics are particularly protected and challenging to gather data for initially. But if you follow the news about how controls are evolving - there's been significant coverage of the Home Office using biometrics to tackle illegal working - I can see banking being the next target for this approach.
If we can build that into our capabilities early, we'll be positioned to catch so many more cases. One of our biggest challenges in screening is that people manipulate their data to impersonate others, but it's considerably harder to manipulate your appearance to look like someone else.
I'm also excited about using AI to identify patterns. Even the most sophisticated criminals who manipulate their data to impersonate others follow patterns. These patterns can be difficult for humans to spot - we have case studies where something has been reviewed by seven or eight different investigators without being detected because no single person sees the complete picture to identify the pattern. AI could certainly help us there.
Even the most sophisticated criminals who manipulate their data to impersonate others follow patterns... AI could certainly help us there.
It's both groundbreaking and a path to the future simultaneously.
If you had to sum up Bugni Labs' impact in one word or phrase, what would it be?
That's challenging - I have two in mind. The first that immediately came to mind was "groundbreaking," because that's exactly what it was. We've never had an in-house screening solution; we've always purchased them. There were no existing capabilities within our platform to build this. This wasn't something we could have accomplished alone, so they truly broke new ground and built something robust and designed for the future.
The second phrase is "path to the future." I wouldn't be able to have these roadmap plans and ambitious goals without their work. People often think, "What watch lists do you need to hit?" But it's actually about how we're going to transform the product to focus on catching people and really iterating on what third parties have done before, making it better. I couldn't do that without Bugni. So it's both groundbreaking and a path to the future simultaneously.
What Bugni Labs built: The technical achievement
Over a four-month engagement, Bugni Labs partnered closely with Stef Parker to take the List Screening capability from concept all the way into production. In that time they:
Conclusion
The success of this four-month engagement highlights how strategic leadership and collaborative partnership can accelerate innovation in financial services. Parker's pragmatic approach to navigating enterprise constraints while empowering technical innovation, combined with Bugni Labs' specialist expertise, demonstrates the power of aligned teams working toward shared objectives. Her strategic decisions - from reframing requirements under pressure to consolidating team structures - were instrumental in delivering Lloyd's first in-house screening solution and creating a foundation for future crime prevention capabilities.
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