Nasdaq Women in Technology: Valerie Bannert-Thurner, Anti-Financial Crime Technology, Nasdaq

Valerie Bannert-Thurner’s passion for technology innovation and years of experience has allowed her to grow within Nasdaq’s Surveillance business. With a client-centric mind, Valerie strives to solve any problems customers may face and provide the best service to her clients. As Nasdaq’s Senior Vice President for the Anti-Financial Crime Technology division, she has been able to keep her mission at the center of her work: protect the world against financial crime to drive integrity within all markets. 

Please tell us about yourself and your role at Nasdaq.

I have been with Nasdaq for over 13 years and, throughout my tenure, have held multiple positions across the Nasdaq Market Platforms and Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) teams. 

In my current role, I lead Nasdaq’s Surveillance businesses. Nasdaq, as part of its Anti-Financial Crime business, offers best-in-class surveillance solutions, which provide cross-market, multi-asset, multi-venue trade surveillance and market risk monitoring across the capital markets landscape and beyond. We service over 235 firms across the capital markets and beyond - including exchanges, regulators, brokers, asset managers, cryptos and more.

How did you become involved in the anti-financial crime space?

My passion has always been geared toward technology innovation and solving customer challenges and needs. Early in my career at Nasdaq, I worked closely with clients in the capital markets landscape to do exactly this – whether helping to improve trading risk management or bringing disruptive capital markets technologies to exchanges, clearinghouses and regulators throughout Europe. 

In 2015, I became more involved in the anti-financial crime space, focusing on driving growth in our Surveillance business. Since then, the business has continued to evolve, with the acquisition of Verafin in 2019 and the official formation of Nasdaq’s Anti-Financial Crime division in 2022. 

With a mission of helping to protect the world from financial crime, our team is committed to delivering cutting-edge technology that enables our clients to drive trust and integrity within the capital markets and beyond. 

How has technology influenced your role at Nasdaq?

Technology has always been at the heart and center of our business and operating model. Our Surveillance solutions are processing billions of records daily to help detect market abuse across the world. We are continuously advancing how we apply technology to meet our customers’ needs and have built up competencies in cloud-based computing, behavioral science and AI to continue to drive innovation in surveillance. In addition, we have embraced a more agile way of working — truly focusing on delivering value quickly to our customers. 

Throughout your career, what challenges have you been presented with that you’ve had to overcome?

Over the years, the team and I have faced many challenges. Economic situations vary, competitive pressures can be daunting, and technological advancements don’t always pan out the way we want. However, we at Nasdaq have an amazing group of people that thrive under pressure, come together when facing risks or adversaries and overcome challenges with grit and perseverance. I have no doubt that the team at Nasdaq, curious, open to change, brutally honest and committed to our shared mission, will continue to master challenges as they surface. 

What advice would you give to people interested in working in the anti-financial crime industry or who desire to have a role in the technology sector? 

Our area is incredibly dynamic and interesting, and new opportunities arise regularly. For those with a passion for solving customers’ needs, an interest in driving technology innovation and the desire to protect the world from financial crime, I recommend engaging and getting involved. Our business has scaled up significantly over the past few years, highlighting the importance of upskilling technology staff in scaled operational processes and tools. For anyone interested in the technology sector, this is definitely a skill set I would recommend building.

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Technology Leadership

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