Banking and insurance executives overwhelmingly plan to spend more, especially on staff, to help strengthen their anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing compliance programs, according to new research by the audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.

"Financial executives responding to a KPMG survey tell us that they plan to add headcount to make their AML and terrorist financing compliance initiatives more robust and dynamic, but we are noting an ongoing struggle in the market to find the appropriate available talent to get the job done," said Darren Donovan, a principal and forensic leader for the banking and finance sector in KPMG's Forensic Services practice.

According to the KPMG survey of banking and insurance executives at the Anti-Money Laundering Audit & Compliance Forum in New York, 77 percent of respondents said they plan to increase their financial commitment to these compliance programs over the next 12 months. As much as 53 percent of the respondents said they will increase their AML and terrorist financing compliance workforce in the next year.