Ravi de Silva is the founder of DeRisk Partners and a seasoned compliance expert with a global track record, having led financial crimes compliance at Citi and held senior roles at JPMorgan and American Express. With deep experience navigating regulatory environments across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, he now helps banks, credit unions, and fintechs build scalable, strategic compliance infrastructures. In this episode, he shares what most founders get wrong about compliance, where AI can trip you up, and why sanctions are a bigger deal than you think.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
00:01 Intro and Ravi’s background
01:04 Early career journey and transition into compliance
02:38 Lessons from Citi and JPMorgan
04:11 Founding DeRisk Partners
05:27 Why startups delay compliance
07:39 The AI audit gap in fintech
09:24 Risks in sponsor bank partnerships
11:20 Sanctions compliance and secondary exposure
13:42 Global expansion to Switzerland, Dubai, and Singapore
15:35 Using AI in compliance workflows
17:34 Challenges of selling compliance globally
20:10 Compliance red flags for VCs
22:05 Regulatory trends: MiCA, VARA, and global crackdowns
23:31 U.S. crypto regulation and the Genius Act
25:08 Balancing speed and compliance in early-stage startups
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