I don't want to be at your workplace. Get a few guys from you-know-where.

s://.businesstimes.com.sg/brunch/no-more-laughing-their-way-to-the-bank

Bond condition
 

Just make sure that you do not sign a bond

Good job
 

s://.fastjobs.sg/ad/829887

Any thoughts on this company? Or role?

Hi, may i know if it is the norm for banks to offer contract till end of December even though the starting date is Oct/Nov. HR is unable to confirm that there will be a possibility for extension as approval is only given till EOY. However, interviewer says there is a high possibility.

Thanks

Hello, I would like to start a career in banaking, but would like to ask if a reputable bank name affects your future prospect? eg. if i work in some relatively unknown foreign bank, will it affect whether i can get a job at the bigger banks in singapore? Thanks!

Yes and no. U have to realise u got to start somewhere and it’s not as though u can cherry pick.

A smaller set up may give u broader exposure which is a plus pt. Most impt is always the people there and who u can learn from la honestly

I took and passed the CAMS exam on Friday!
 

100% Success. If you want to prepare for CAMS Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist exam in shortest possible time, with minimum effort but for the most effective result, you can use and buy your cams exam ([email protected])

Hi all I have been a contractor at 2 major foreign banks since i graduate. Is it advisable to switch to a small asian bank (<100people) if they offered me perm?

HI, i already have a ica level one cert but now am considering CAMS certification which is equivalent to a ibf level 2 . just wan to ask those who have taken them, is it that the cams certification is similar to ica level 1, like the topics covered so is like no point to take the cams certification since i have ica level 1 cert already? or it would be better to take like acams certificates on a specific area of compliance like sanctions etc?

thanks first for all ur inputs.

Same salary?

Any AML professionals / aspirants still able to find decent openings during this COVID period?

Hi guys,

I graduated last year with bachelors in banking and international finance and have started finding jobs since the starting of this year. I only had a 2 months finance internship and a 5 months operations executive role in a small oil & gas firm under my belt all before I graduated.

I am interested in compliance but I do not have any relevant experiences regarding compliance as you can see and seeing how there's an enhanced support from the MAS for singapore IBF-accredited courses now. Should I take up ICA Advanced Certificate in Regulatory Compliance??

Do you guys think it'll be a waste of time or should I just focus on searching for compliance jobs?

Your inputs would be much appreciated :)

Can somebody advise me...is AML/KYC still a great area of compliance to work in

If you are fully covered by the funding, go for the course.

Concurrently start applying for jobs. To be honest I am doubtful the cert really helps much since actual work is king but the employer may have a better impression that u have made the effort to upgrade yourself

An ica level one cert barely scratches the surface. Not that cams is fantastic but the scope is definitely wider and there’s so called industry recognition. Advise to take cams if cost not an issue or sponsored.

Definitely for us banks u should have a cams cert as it’s seen as a should have. Note it’s still a lot of theory but better than notjing

Do both concurrently. Keep your expectTions in check for the very though. It probably would have very minimal bearing on whether you get a job because of it at the end of the day. If cost is not borne by u then of course just do it

Current compliance professional here. Poll for other compliance professionals, do you all feel that the hype and good days of hiring compliance are over ? Even before covid, the headhunter calls were already much fewer than say 2 years ago?

Anyone already thinking of other non-compliance/mixed roles that are up & coming and ill appreciate the transferable skillset of compliance (other than internal audit, ops risk, governance related roles)?

been in the kyc analyst industry for a couple of years now. It's super super difficult to get a perm role in this industry, even with all the stupid cert. Getting tired of contract roles and thinking of hopping to other industry that have perm roles now. Anyone felt the same way ??

Its true but no choice. In the current situation better to stay employed.

Personally I’ve been in contract roles at the start of my career and even taking on a contract role again from perm before being converted. I would say u have to think hard for yourself why you are choosing to stay on at a place with no chance for conversion (as u mentioned it has been years), and is there something you could do differently, be it job performance wise or looking outside for a perm role.

If u continue to accept contract roles then this does not help u reach your end goal.

Currently I'm doing kyc analyst [contract ending soon].
I got the ica cert and also just received an offer for kyc client onboarding role.
Is it wise to make the switch ?
what are the career progression in kyc client onboarding like ?

thanks !

May I know what you are currently doing as a kyc analyst? In normal circumstances, you should be quite familiar with the client onboarding process already after having some experience.

Yes I'm familiar with the client onboarding process. Just wondering what is the career progression like as compared to kyc analyst role.

1) Be a specialist in certain business line (e.g. Private Banking / Trade Finance / Correspondent Banking)
2) Be a team lead by managing people and processes

Hi I am interested to go to KYC field too I am working as ops officer in bank contract ending soon. What are the qualifications needed for a KYC officer/analyst role. I am a degree grad but not related to finance. I am thinking to do ICA certs as well. What type of level of cert is sufficient for the role and most importantly what is the nature of work like? Working hours? And the pay lol

Thank u

Hi, anyone here took the ACAMS SG AML regime exam? I have passed the CAMS exam some time ago. Am thinking of taking the SG AML regime exam (the paper which focuses on SG regulations). There is not much available information on the content of the SG AML regime exam. So I'm wondering whether anyone can help advise:
1) Is the paper difficult to pass?
2) Is it worth the time and effort?
Thank you.

Not exactly hard if u study. Some of the answers can b quite similar
I don’t see real value add la to be honest. If Ure doing this line won’t need to invest too much time as it’s 626 and the guidelines. If Ure not in this line, have to study more.

Again, it shows the employer u took some time to get the cert. doesn’t make u an expert in sg regulations by just answering 25 qns

Honest advice from someone who has been in the banking industry for close to 10 years, and has spent the majority of my career span within FCC and eventually moved on to another specialization within banking compliance - always plan your career move in view of a longer time horizon.
FCC these days have transformed drastically from what it was 7-10 years ago. These days, many banks with a relatively sizeable operation presence in SG/SEA have adopted the "quantity over quality" approach in tackling the menial aspects of their AML/CFT framework - some banks refer them as "Compliance operations" or something similar. The "quality" issue of course would be mitigated by having a dedicated QA unit.

My opinion does not represent all of the banks but the career prospects of such roles are pretty limited these days. Gone are the days where such role is a multifaceted one or what we commonly called it in hokkien "bao ka liao". These roles are generally occupied by "foot-soldiers" hired to do just that one thing and only that one thing - you get the drift. Although, internal mobility within your firm is one option, but it is never that straightforward.

Some of the questions raised here asked about marketability, how would they be able to cross over to another specialization, etc. You see - no matter how well you sugar-coat your CV any hiring managers can see through all that and know that your experience is pretty much centered around that area. Many hiring managers/recruiters would often go for the safe approach i.e. to hire someone with a proven track record for that particular role they are looking to hire - a "chicken and egg" scenario for the new/fresh entrants. With such a big pool of candidates to choose from, hiring managers can afford to be picky. It is not impossible nor it is exceedingly difficult but there is no sure-proof way to go around it.

Gonna end my WOT but what I am trying to highlight here is - don't just head-dive into this line for the money alone (compared to other industries) - think long term if you genuinely care about shaping your career. It is not a glamorous job at all, boring as heck at the beginning or even at the mid-career for some. Even if you can 'tahan' the insipidness of the job when you're starting out, it does not automatically give you a advantage in progression.

Just to add on - I see so many posts throwing '626' here and there. For those who are starting out in this line, remember - the SG AML reg relevant to wherever you'll be working at depends on the type/license of your bank has and 626 is merely one of them, though, the contents are largely similar with some differences here and there. For those who have been involved in crafting policies would know there are other papers out there published by the MAS /or relevant industry bodies to take note of, otherwise you're going to have a field day when it comes to your bank's annual statutory audit.

Adding to what the author has mentioned, the emergence of Regtech will soon transform the way compliance professionals will go about doing BAU. Throwing bodies at compliance function will no longer be the case once banks have dealt with the immediate COVID disruption - fraud investigation and aging backlogs - and start thinking about automation processes.

Thanks for quoting my WOT. I agree - regtech is indeed the way to go.
If it is of any comfort to anyone looking to start in this line, the complete harmonization of regtech and AML ops would be a progressive one, so don't have to worry about having your job being cut away due to automation... yet. But do take note some Banks are in the progress /or have already implemented some degree of automation in these labour-intensive roles. As with most things involving tech, Banks would still require warm bodies (but less) there to examine the cases flagged by these systems.
Some Banks have opted to move the triage assessment of such processes to cheaper locations such as India (or Poland) or wherever they are able to save costs... And again, for the time being, AML ops will not completely 'die out' in SG as most Banks would keep a dedicated team at their major booking centre to handle the higher risks escalations.... otherwise your local CE / compliance head has a lot of explaining to do when it comes to their annual material outsourcing assessment....

Lastly, I just want to add on - Regtech is pretty much absent for small to mid sized banks for now... the adaptation of AI/data science in their BAU often requires the business to reach a certain critical mass... imagine trying to sell this idea to some ikan bilis bank with less than 1000 client accounts at group level...

Glad to have someone in this forum who is shedding real light on the current kyc landscape. In the space of Regtech, one area which can be immediately deployed would be RPA - aggregation data points from various systems and arranging them in an orderly manner. I'm sure you would have also understood the pain of the time taken to just collect documents and still wondering if there could still be missing pieces of crumb lying around

Yes indeed. Not to mention, there are many banks with incomplete/outdated client information in their systems / wherever they are keeping the records at. This exacerbates the problem that you have rightly pointed out in your earlier post...essentially "garbage in, garbage out" - feed incorrect parameters, we'll get incorrect results. This might sound crazy, but it'll be cheaper to maintain physical headcounts to handle this issue than to address the source of the problem (i.e. the systems)...until the business reaches a stage where it will be more cost-efficient to overhaul their systems/processes entirely.

To those who are starting out in this line - be open to learning other things outside of your usual BAU, learn the end-to-end process, the IT parts and etc. Sounds easy but over the years I've seen so many people refuse to step out of their own comfort zone, and these ppl are pretty stuck in a dead-end...that is to say, their future career options are pretty much limited to what they have been doing all the while... it's easy and tempting to go for the highest paying one but don't be baited by the honey trap. And lastly... don't expect your career (i.e. your pay grade) to fly from the start or within the next few years after starting out... let's be real - being in AML/KYC, you are not some superstar that'll bring in the dough for the business...even if you have the necessary skill sets the role is looking for, don't expect superstar's treatment.. no one is irreplaceable... that is my personal take...

Tried doing a search in this thread but could not find anything useful.

As part of the IBF-STS scheme, I'm required to take the ACAMS Singapore AML Regime Exam as well for the funding. I have since cleared the CAMS and is on track to take the Regime Exam.

However, while doing my study, I am unable to find more information online on this exam.

Would anyone who took this exam provide some insights? Is the test difficult and that questions can be found form the study guide and/or MAS 626, or do we need external resources as well? Is this exam harder than the CAMS? I feel more unprepared for this test compared to the CAMS, although I read the study guide/MAS 626 many times. I'm afraid that I'm overconfident for this compare to CAMS and then fail it.

Thanks!

Hi
 

I’m from MAS AML/CFT. Could I check if this is sought after and what’s the salary like for 5-year experience?

I took the regime exam. 626 and guidelines was what I encountered. Expect qns from all para of the guidelines, including training, reliance, ewra etc. But there are more qns on case studies involving a mixture of edd/str.

I find the regime exam trickier as there r less qns and some of them are not clearly constructed. But if u are very familiar with the guidelines, You are good to go

Study the 626 and guidelines and u will be fine. I took the exam. Expect qns from all para of the 626 guidelines, even those which you don’t expect. But main is still on cdd and a few scenarios based qns

Total 25 qns, dunno what is the passing. Tough or not is subjective, I find less room for error and qns r not very clear so to me is slightly tougher

Whats your full title and scope of duties at MAS?

Working in AML/TM for 3 years and looking for a switch.

Current salary 4.5k, and 17 months total salary package. Would it be wise to look for work now in this climate? Have friends from the industry earning more and hoping to jump to bridge the gap

Honestly, 5 mths bonus is pretty good in this economic climate. 4.5k for 3 years experience seems reasonable too. Have to consider the entire pay package, career progression and not just the monthly salary.