AI threat
 

Do you guys think most of the AML jobs would get replaced by AI in near future?

Aml
 

Is it possible for a aml investigator switch job to risk management department?

Hi, sorry for the amateur question but how do i become an aml investigator? Would CDD experience allow me entry? Thank you.

Hi there, is this role within the specialised activities team?

Would having some general external audit experience during university help in landing an entry level compliance role in MNCs/banks upon graduation?

cypress plaza
 

What do the more experienced of you make of sanctions advisory? The career trajectory looks quite clear (Advisor - Regional Advisor - Regional head), but what would the role and industry look like after 5 or 10 years? Is sanctions higher paid too among FCC functions?

Hi may I know what's wrong with being an aml investigator? I would think it is an interesting job or am I wrong?

All the job postings want candidates with a few years experience. Where to find entry level positions to gain the experience in the field?

Realistically, what are the chances of everyone becoming a regional head? In big banks, there are a few hundreds AML / Compliance practitioners and only 1 regional head. Unless you are superstar, which in reality, most people are not, you should have a more realistic dream.

Sanctions is not the highest paid. Pay goes with experiences, along with how good you are, to a certain extent. Additionally, Sanctions is a very niche coverage. To reach the top, you have very very limited roles that you can take. In a bigger banks, you might have a small team of people focusing on Sanctions, in Singapore. There are limited growth for these group of people as well, so likely, they will stay in their job for a long while.

Additionally, its not necessary adviser - regional adviser - regional head. There are many routes and it depends on the size of the FIs. You can move from regional adviser (small bank) to a country advisory (big bank) or country head (med-sized bank). If you are fixated with one route, your career will be stuck very quickly.

Some banks offer special programs for fresh graduate and people with no experience. Some banks, also hire entry level positions. Being an interviewer, what annoys me the most are candidates who
- Can't give a clear reason why they want to move into Compliance/AML
- Did not prepare themselves, to understand the basics of the role that you are applying. You dont have to be able to do the job immediately, but you must, at least, understand what the job is about, and connect the reason why you want to try that position. This points a lot on positive attitude, which is much more valuable than knowledge.

Additionally, having all the certificates (ACAMS, Dip in Comp, etc) are completely useless if you cannot apply it. I have seen candidates with every possible certificate in the market, but is not able to identify basic AML risks.

There is nothing wrong with being an AML investigator. Similarly, you have to assess how old are you and what you want in your career. If you are young (i.e. below 30), you have to ask yourself if you are REALLY OK to just do investigation for the rest of your career (i.e. 20-30 years). As an investigator, there is a ceiling, and if you do not develop other skill set, you will be stuck at a specific level, i.e. AVP or max you can be a AML investigator at VP level.

CDD experience may/may not allow you entry. There is a demand of investigators and the supply is very low. CDD and transaction monitoring are foundations, which you need, in order to move on to other roles within AML. If you are lucky enough to get an interview, it all boils down to how you impress your interviewer, by having the ability to connect your CDD knowledge into investigation. There is no course to learn, to be an investigator. Even ex-police, don't always make the best investigator. A lot of it, are on the job training. It is ultimately, the ability to translate your CDD/TM knowledge into investigation skills.

Not most of the job, but a significant number (maybe 50%) in the next 5 - 10 years. The tricky part is, more global banks are looking into AI, because they are spending a lot of money (in billions) in AML resources, but the end result (i.e. number of STR filed, number of suspicious clients identified) remains low. The same banks have huge numbers of people clearly false positives (whether it is name screening or transaction monitoring), and eventually, these group of people will be replaced by technology, which can identify true positive better.

Isn't transaction monitoring considered under or a part of investigations? Or by investigators, do you mean level 3 transaction monitoring? The FIU?

Hi, I assume you are the original poster who asked about transiting from investigations to risk management? Have you considered crossing over into general compliance/AML advisory since such is a governance function which exists to mitigate and manage financial crime and regulatory risks?

Actually what does AML investigation do exactly? Isnt transaction monitoring doing the investigation already?

1) I am in transaction monitoring as my first job since i graduate. What is the prospect and career path of transaction monitoring?

2) I wanted to go into AML Advisory or sanctions. Is it hard?

So AML vs Sanctions, which one got better prospect?

depens on what kind of investigations.many peoples idea of investigations is just tm alerts, which while not wrong, is not entirely correct.

Tm is system generated, typically will be looking at one months worth of clients transactions, depending how your alerts are generated. Case write up generally less complex.

Investigations usually much more complex, could involve multiple clients and accounts over a specific time period, and case resolution is typically much lengthier and spectrum of issues could be wider given the volume of info reviewed. All these has to b condensed into a readable and accurate report detailing your findings and highlight actions or recommendations.

Agree that alert clearing positions will b stuck at most to a vp as sad to say banks treat alerts as part of ops and something which doesnt need much skill or more for junior people. Real investigator role, may have more room for promotion but depends on the bank you are at. Many places do not differentiate alert clearing with investigations and do not have positions for more complex investigations.

End of the day, still about combing throught transactions to determine whether there are potential suspicions. But an experienced person will b able to identify risks which many so called investigators cant and conduct the investigations in an efficient manner. many people tend to dismiss certain issues easily for fear of doing more work, stirring **** etc.

Why do people here say it's a bad thing to be stuck at VP? That's manager level, and the truth is, majority of people don't make it past that no matter what industry you're talking about.

L1, L2 and L3 TM vary from institution to institution. Only bigger FIs will have a segregation between TM and investigations. For smaller FIs, it a 1-stop shop. TM covers alerts generated from transaction monitoring, whereas investigation covers potentially suspicious activities/clients from all ranges (front office escalation, name screening, MAS checks, etc), including TM. Investigation will also be the final party to file the STRs.

The term FIU is now loosely used as the job scope of each team of FIU vary from one FI to another FI. You would actually have to READ the job description, to have a better understanding, on what each functions does.

At the highest level of TM, you would be the global head for TM, which is usually a MD level role. Within TM, there are also prospect and career path, but similar to all aspects (sanctions, advisory, investigations, ABC, compliance), its how you develop your role that progress you to the next level. I know a lady who started off as a TM analyst, but worked her way to become the deputy head of TM hub. Currently, she is the country head of AML. I am sure, if she is tired of her role as country head and don't mind relocating, she would be able to get an equally senior/more senior role in global TM space. The problem starts when you think you are an Ops person, and you start behaving like an Ops person. Once you do that, your career is down the drain because you will always think any task/projects is not what you should be doing.

Getting to AML Advisory or sanctions is not hard, if you study and prepare for it. If you get a chance for an interview, you should really study and understand what you have done, in the past, and translate that into the role that you are applying for. I have interviewed candidates who "claim" to have done 3-4 years of CID/TM contract work, but 2 interview questions down, it is crystal clear that the person don't understand the work that he is doing at all. If that is the attitude towards work, why is it shocking to realize that you have never landed on a perm role, or any other roles, to be honest?

Ultimately, it is the attitude you have, towards your work, that crave you to your next role. Each TM team always have a team lead, and if you think that team lead gets to be a team lead, by doing BAU, you are wrong. Similarly, for the team lead to move to the next level, it also goes beyond doing BAU and thinking everything should be BAU.

After reading so much, you still dont know which has better prospect? Maybe you should switch fields.

If your choice is to do BAU work and be a standalone contributor, your career will be stuck at VP. Once you become a VP, there will be greater expectations to manage a team. It is impossible to remain as a VP and still clear alerts, in most banks, if not all banks. For investigation, it is still possible to conduct investigations and be a VP. However, at some point, you would need to take on managerial positions. You have to realize that managing AML risks goes beyond clearing alerts and conducting investigations. There are macros issues to consider. Stakeholders to manage. Changes to be driven and made. Those are the opportunities that will allow you to move to the next level.

Not the person who posed the question. Sanctions is definitely more complicated and time sensitive. In the US, those with legal backgrounds, with JD etc are favoured for sanctions compliance, not the case for aml investigations where people come from diverse backgrounds.

This is great advice. I think one should first aim to build depth of knowledge in their respective function, then move on to widen their breadth of knowledge for managerial responsibilities. Not forgetting that each function overlaps with another and it is those that can apply what they picked up in their domain to another that do well for interviews and in their career generally.

Thanks for the advice. 2 qns which i hope u can advise

1) what is the prerequsite to go into AML Advisory and Sanctions respectively?

2)Is it AML advisory is at least AVP and above? I have only transaction Monitoring and is at Associate level.

1) It vary from banks to banks. Regardless of the prerequsite, you should still apply and try for it. Recruiters will probably won't put you up, but you can always apply directly via the FI's website. Similarly, you must be prepared for the interview, which is to actually study what each area covers. The reality is, there isn't so many candidates with direct AML Advisory and/or sanctions experiences floating around. Hence, some banks will take a stab with someone with the right thought process and right attitude.

2) No, this vary from banks to banks as well. If you are heading the team, you obviously cannot be at associate level. However, the head will still need a team to support him/her, and the team would range from associate to VP or even SVP.

How about transition from KYC to Aml advisory or another field?

I have been in KYC for 4 years. Am looking at what other roles that I can move on to.

For those reading, the advice from Mr Learned Unregistered is the 100% accurate. Being one of the lucky few who worked from a junior contract role within a very niche FCC area to associate equivalent in AML and sanctions advisory within a relative short time span, you need dedication (I.e. attitude), network and luck.

Dedication to study areas that are not directly related to your current work, especially considering you're already learning on your job for your main mandate. Dedication to bite the bullet and work painstakingly hard in unfamiliar territories. Dedication to keep applying and interviewing for the roles you're keen for, despite being ignored by agents or FIs as well as being rejected by some after interviewers who remain unconvinced (e.g. FIs that are looking for more experienced people).

Attitude shows your mindset (as rightly pointed out) - do you challenge the status quo or are you just a robot? Do you think through what you do? Do you ask yourself tough questions? Do you try to exceed expectations and operate at a higher level? Do you show how you excel to the right people?

Network to ensure stakeholders, colleagues, bosses, underlings appreciate you. Is this just mere shoe shining? No, you can't please everyone, but you need to build your own reputation so that people listen to you and respect your opinion. Note I used "appreciate" instead of "like" - you don't need everyone to like you, but you need to be in a position to provide value to people.

Luck. All the above hinges on your luck - working for the right boss, working in the right role. Its also much easier to get picked out of a large group of candidates, especially for those inexperienced, if you get a referral. You bring over your reputation you built up by your dedication and attitude. But without luck, you wont be able to move to the role you want at the time you want at the FI you want.

Also, just a thank you to Mr Learned Unregistered for your truthful and learned advice which I personally vouch for its accuracy. Truthfulness is sometimes underappreciated on the internet...

hi there, may i know who have taken the ICA advanced certificate in GRC and is it necessary for advancement in this career path? is still considering whether to take tis cert anot. appreciate all ur suggestions. Thank you.

4 years and you still don't know what role you can move into. Clearly, you don't understand what you are doing, the types of roles that are relevant, and how do you translate what you have learned to the next role.

Don't keep asking what you can get or what options are available to you. Figure out, what you can offer to an employer or a manager first. If you cannot translate what you have learned in the past 4 years, into applicable knowledge, even if you get a job in Advisory, you will never be able to grow in that function.

Some employers think that is useful, but to me, it is completely useless if you don't understand what you have studied, and it is just another line on your CV.

If you are completely fresh to the industry, taking the certificate shows your willingness to study and learn, in order to get the first feet in. However, application of what you have learnt, is very important. If you are already doing compliance work, you will learn more on the job. It is something you can consider, after doing the work for a few years, and you want to refine your understanding/knowledge. If you are doing it, just to show that you have this certificate, don't waste your time or money.

Sidence morgan
 

I dont need you to discipline me with this attitude. I am doing well in my KYC role and good in what I am doing.

In fact I could be earning more than you. I just wanted to know the options I have.

I am not the previous poster.

But you seem destined for Ops.

Like

P.S. I am the previous poster.

Person A that comes from a diverse background such as Financial markets operations and consumer banking operations, are these experience useful in his work in Compliance? or is it better if he comes from a all-compliance background such as Transaction Monitoring?

Hi! May I know what are the prospects for compliance in the insurance industry?

Insurance industry generally pays lower than banking industry, for compliance staff. The bonus used to be better than banks, but I am not sure about now. Insurance industry is generally less stressful and has a small coverage area. Career progression within insurance industry are also generally much slower than banks.

If you are trying to get into compliance industry and insurance company is the only option you have, you can give it a shot. If you are already in compliance industry in a bank, moving to insurance company may potentially set your career back.

Hi!

I have 3 years experience in aml and have completed the Adv Cert in GRC from ICA. I have a masters degree but not related to finance (did msc in a science subject). Am looking for a job in aml. How much can I expect for base pay?

Thanks in advance.