AML/Compliance/KYC professionals come in!

Hi fellow compliance peers, can anyone explain what is the difference between aml and kyc?

For example, in some banks they have positions for both aml and kyc e.g. A) AML analyst and B) KYC analyst

I spent much of my time sending applications for AML compliance role but was offered a KYC role in a bank instead

Whats the diff between the them and is doing kyc useful for switching into aml compliance role in future?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi fellow compliance peers, can anyone explain what is the difference between aml and kyc?

For example, in some banks they have positions for both aml and kyc e.g. A) AML analyst and B) KYC analyst

I spent much of my time sending applications for AML compliance role but was offered a KYC role in a bank instead

Whats the diff between the them and is doing kyc useful for switching into aml compliance role in future?

Which bank is it? And do you have prior AML experience?

Bump thread

Up-skills, upgrade your self from time to time with short courses and certification is key to compliance careers, law and regulations changes on a weekly, monthly and on annual basis.

It is the only way to move around and stay relevant in my opinion.

bumpinggg 10 char

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Up-skills, upgrade your self from time to time with short courses and certification is key to compliance careers, law and regulations changes on a weekly, monthly and on annual basis.

It is the only way to move around and stay relevant in my opinion.

any recommended courses?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

any recommended courses?

ICA and CAMS

Anyone able to share experience on the usefulness of ACAMS vs ICA?
I have been in operations and controls and have moved to advisory and policy making.

I have browsed Level 1 & 2 ACAMS and Level 1 ICA from my friends and do not find the ACAMS material particularly useful as it mentions and makes some questions around history, such as the setup of organisations or principles.
My previous workplaces encouraged ACAMS although they were admittedly openly biased towards it, knowing people on the board and claimed the material is alot fresher than ICA.
A friend who is a senior on an operations team, queried the usefulness of either and the hiring manager only cares about work experience and team fit.
ACAMS requires a ''refresher'' certification every 3 years and sounds like a money-grabbing tactic.
The subscription to AML/CTF news seems useful if extracting for training and being kept up to date.

On other hand ICA, some of my friends mentioned that the coursework/tests are more practical such as designing frameworks and policies. I have not seen the advanced course material and have seen fewer people with this certification.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi fellow compliance peers, can anyone explain what is the difference between aml and kyc?

For example, in some banks they have positions for both aml and kyc e.g. A) AML analyst and B) KYC analyst

I spent much of my time sending applications for AML compliance role but was offered a KYC role in a bank instead

Whats the diff between the them and is doing kyc useful for switching into aml compliance role in future?

Based on my understanding, both terms may be used interchangeably, and you should look into the job description to understand the job scope that you'll be doing.

In a general realm of things, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) is a very broad term to represent combating against financial crime. There are several pillars within it such as Sanctions, Anti-Bribery and Corruption, KYC, Tax Evasion, etc. Important to note is that knowing your client (or KYC) is the first and one of the most fundamental requirement, without which, how else are you able to ascertain other risks? For e.g., how do you validate if your client is indeed a sanctioned individual, if the Beneficial Owner has any adverse news or convicted of any criminal wrongdoing) or what attributes of client info (geography, industry, account structure, etc) do you need to ascertain its risk scoring for risk-based assessment?

The job scope would provide further clarity - is it a maker (1LOD) or a checker (2LOD) role? Account opening or client periodic reviews? Are you dealing with BAU operations work or advisory/policy to ensure the FI meets local 626 requirements and banks' global standards?

To your question on the "helpfulness", it depends on what the KYC work entails, your responsibilities and the skillsets achieved. If it's merely a KYC maker role (i.e. obtaining documentation from RM/client and marking it off the checklist/guidelines) - it is less value-adding compared to one that entails reviewing submissions, reviewing potential exceptions and risk-accepting deviations, analysing and escalating to specialist desks for holistic assessment, conducting gap analysing, enhancing framework/policies/projects/processes to strengthen and update the banks KYC/CDD framework.

Originally Posted by NotaBot

Anyone able to share experience on the usefulness of ACAMS vs ICA?
I have been in operations and controls and have moved to advisory and policy making.

I have browsed Level 1 & 2 ACAMS and Level 1 ICA from my friends and do not find the ACAMS material particularly useful as it mentions and makes some questions around history, such as the setup of organisations or principles.
My previous workplaces encouraged ACAMS although they were admittedly openly biased towards it, knowing people on the board and claimed the material is alot fresher than ICA.
A friend who is a senior on an operations team, queried the usefulness of either and the hiring manager only cares about work experience and team fit.
ACAMS requires a ''refresher'' certification every 3 years and sounds like a money-grabbing tactic.
The subscription to AML/CTF news seems useful if extracting for training and being kept up to date.

On other hand ICA, some of my friends mentioned that the coursework/tests are more practical such as designing frameworks and policies. I have not seen the advanced course material and have seen fewer people with this certification.

I have taken the ICA dip and CAMS. Your observations are spot on. ICA may be a little more helpful in practical context, and this is only a may. I qualify i have not taken the advanced certs.

Most importantly is are you funded? If you are not, i suggest you forgo unless there are more positive experiences about a particular cert shared to you.