Federica Taccogna

Senior financial crime and regulatory expert advising boards, regulators and governments globally. Leads Regulatory & Economic Crime Consulting Practice at Squire Patton Boggs. Specialises in AML, sanctions, and digital assets, with a focus on effectiveness and supervisory strategy. Trusted advisor on complex cross-border investigations, governance frameworks and regulatory transformation.

What makes you a Risky Woman?

I challenge accepted approaches, push regulators and firms towards effectiveness over form, and take positions on emerging areas such as crypto and sanctions where the answers are not yet settled.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. Advised multiple regulators across Europe, the Middle East and Africa on sanctions, AML effectiveness and supervisory frameworks, shaping national approaches.
2. Led complex regulatory investigations and remediation programmes, including enforcement-facing work and cross-border asset tracing.
3. Built and lead a global Regulatory & Economic Crime practice advising banks, fintechs, gambling operators and digital asset firms.

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

Moving from established roles into building a practice that brings together law, consulting and emerging technology. It meant stepping into ambiguity but positioned me to shape regulatory thinking rather than simply respond to it.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I fly my own plane.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

Intellectual curiosity. The instinct to look beyond the obvious, to test assumptions, and to approach problems from multiple angles rather than a single, prescribed lens.

In risk, threats rarely present themselves neatly. Effective leaders are those who connect seemingly unrelated signals and question established approaches rather than relying on exclusively on precedent.

Without curiosity, risk functions become static, and miss how quickly risk itself adapts.