When BI professor Petter Gottschalk wrote in 2007 that "if the police knew what the police know, the police would solve every criminal case", he described a challenge that is still highly relevant.
The point was not that the police lacked information. The point was that much of the information already existed, but that it was scattered across different systems and never seen in context.
Today this applies to far more than the police. It applies to banks, public bodies, regulators, journalists, insurance companies, credit specialists and other players who have to make decisions about companies and people every day.
Perhaps the statement can therefore be rewritten:
If society knew what society knows, we would stand stronger against financial crime, fraud and unscrupulous actors.
The information exists, but the picture is missing
In many cases the problem is not that no one has seen anything. The problem is that several parties have each seen their own part of the picture.
A bank may see one risk. A public agency may hold a different piece of information. A journalist may find a connection somewhere else. On their own the signals can look minor; together they can tell a completely different story.
Jon Sivert Langmoen describes it from his experience in the police, Kripos and Økokrim:
"The challenge is rarely that no one has seen anything. More often, several people have each seen their own part, without anyone putting the pieces together."
It can be ownership that does not make sense, frequent changes of roles, unexpected connections between people and companies, previous bankruptcies, financial anomalies, or activity that looks ordinary in isolation but that ought to raise questions when seen in context.
The challenge is that finding, understanding and piecing this information together manually often takes too long. You then risk red flags only becoming visible after the loan has been granted, the grant has been paid out, the contract has been signed or the damage has already been done.
Financial crime uses legal structures
Financial crime and fraud do not only hit individual businesses. They erode trust, cause major losses and exploit weaknesses in the systems around us.
Much of this crime does not happen outside the system, but by means of it. Companies, ownership, roles, networks and public schemes can all be used to create legitimacy, conceal risk or move assets.
That is why it is not always one large anomaly that reveals the risk. It is often the sum of several smaller signals that shows something is not right. To detect such signals early, people, companies, history, roles, finances and relationships must be assessed together.
Risk must be understood in a Norwegian context
Norway is a high-trust society. That is a strength, but also a vulnerability.
High trust makes it easier to collaborate, extend credit, enter into agreements, award support and run projects efficiently. Trust can also be exploited by actors who know how the system works.
With long experience from the Norwegian police, Kripos and Økokrim, Jon Sivert Langmoen is clear that risk must be understood in a Norwegian context. Broad, international methods and tools can be useful, but they are not always sufficient on their own. Local conditions, geography, industry structure, history and known patterns can be decisive in understanding what is actually normal, and what ought to raise questions.
As he puts it:
"What can look like an insignificant detail in a generic dataset can be a clear warning sign in a Norwegian context."
This is also where Enin stands out. Enin is wholly Norwegian-owned, developed in Norway and built on Norwegian data. The solution has been developed in close collaboration with Norwegian private and public organisations, and is adapted to what Norwegian business, Norwegian registries and Norwegian risk patterns actually look like.
That is a strength, because Norwegian data, placed in the right context, gives a better basis for distinguishing between the ordinary and what should be examined more closely.
Enin brings the picture together on a single page
Enin compiles large volumes of information from different sources and makes it available on a single page for each company and person. The aim is to make it faster to spot red flags, understand connections and make better decisions.
Instead of spending a lot of time searching through many different sources, the user gets a consolidated picture of the relevant facts. That makes it easier to assess who you lend to, who you enter into agreements with, who receives public grants, who is awarded contracts, and which companies or people should be examined more closely.
For banks and credit and insurance providers, this can contribute to better risk assessments and reduce losses. For public bodies, it can give better control before grants are paid out, contracts are signed or suppliers are chosen. For journalists, it can make it easier to uncover questionable or criminal conduct through a better overview of ownership, roles, history and relationships.
What they all have in common is the need to see more of the picture, earlier.
From data to decision support
Data alone is not enough. The value only emerges once the information is set in context and becomes usable in practice.
This is not about replacing professional judgement, but about giving decision-makers a better starting point. When relevant information is gathered, structured and presented in an understandable way, it becomes easier to ask the right questions early:
Is the ownership logical? Do the people behind the company have a history that should be examined? Are there links to other high-risk companies? Are the finances consistent with the activity? Is this a party you should grant a loan, support, insurance, credit or a contract to?
Questions like these should be asked before the decision is made.
Society must know what society knows
Faced with more professional and more complex threats, it is not enough that the information exists somewhere. It has to be accessible, understandable and set in context.
This is exactly what Enin works on: making Norwegian data and Norwegian insight usable for those who need to prevent financial crime, reduce losses and make better decisions.
If we are to stop criminal and unscrupulous actors from gaining access to loans, public funds, contracts or legitimacy, we have to detect the risk earlier. Data can then be used more purposefully, information can be turned into insight, and society can get more out of the knowledge that already exists.
