This candidate is a highly competent and confident compliance professional who has spent the past 3+ years steadily progressing within their Risk & Compliance career.

They are currently in a position of responsibility where they are responsible for 2 analysts, not only from a technical perspective but also conducting their reviews and monitoring their professional development.

They weren't actively job searching, however, they had asked us to keep them updated as and when there were management positions available as this is where they see their career going.

We speak to candidates at all levels on a daily basis, and having known them for a few years, we truly believe this is an impressive candidate and someone you should certainly speak to.

Experience

Senior AML and Conflicts Analyst | International Law Firm |  2022 - Present

AML, Conflicts of Interest and team management

• Conflicts of interest specialist - extension of the below previous experience, however dealing with the most complex conflicts of interest we experience in the firm. These often require clearances on site hits (materially confidential information especially due to being real estate focused), dealing commercial issues and legal issues and also assessing conflicts from a wider business relationship perspective. Centralised conflicts system so I personally deal with obtaining all permissions and clearances and escalating where necessary. Dealing with any information barrier requests when needed. Dealing with contentious/non-contentious conflicts and running appropriate corporate trees.
• Anti-money Laundering specialist - extension of the below previous experience, however lots more in-depth global source of funds analysis due to being a global real estate focused firm (still other areas covered). Dealing with transactional monies analysis and risk assessments, implication of the 2022 economic sanctions and dealing with all high-risk clients and matters due to being in a senior position. Signing off more junior member of the team's queries and escalations and forwarding any more complex escalations to MLRO. We have recently retrained the team on regulated sector work, which I have taken a large part in training the team on what does/doesn't fall into scope and what impact this should have on CDD.
  • Regulations - confident knowledge and understanding on all compliance regulations and determining which are applicable where and how to apply them, beyond just being confident at running a conflict search or conducting client due diligence. This is key when being able to assess the risk-based approach. As a senior I sign off more low level MLRO escalations, such as those with a high risk third country nexus - the regulations are key in being able to get comfortable. The regulations I often apply day to day are The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, The SRA Accounts Rules (and ensuring we protect the firm from being used as a banking facility beyond money laundering prevention), and the SRA Conflicts of Interest guidance (in lines with the Codes of Conduct for solicitors and firms) - this list is not exhaustive.
• Team management - as a senior I am responsible for 2 analysts (currently I have 1 analyst and 1 assistant) who reported to me as their buddy. This included: conducting their boland reviews and discussing their progression plan, weekly check-ins to discuss capacity and plans to handle historic requests and overall wellbeing monitoring. I have to review their conflict searches before they submit and sign off lower level MLRO escalations. I have also experienced the not so pleasant side of team management, implementing a performance improvement plan and having to extend probation to ensure progression reaches the level needed.
  • Project Management - as a senior I deal with several ad hoc projects for the MLRO and head of risk. Most recently I have been leading on a project in which the purpose is to build a stronger relationship between the risk team and the wider firm. I have been conducting in person talks with fee-earners and PAs to gain a better understanding on where they feel there is time delays systematically and how we can improve our processes/systems, as well as training them on the foundations of AML and conflicts to help them better understand why risk is so important.
  • Other key senior achievements : I have done include: I conduct all first stage interviews for senior, analyst and assistant roles, including reviewing CVs and assessments prior to interview. I have created job specifications for business cases to be taken to senior management, worked closely with senior management and participated in weekly senior meetings to assess the overall team and directions which we needed to go in.

Compliance Officer | International Law Firm | 2021 - 2022
AML and Conflicts of Interest

• Conflicts of Interest: Experience in clearing non-contentious and contentious matters (litigation and alternative dispute resolution/opposition), whether it involves just the client or numerous other/adverse parties. Guiding the legal teams where they need to seek commercial clearance from other partners within the firm and identifying where there may be a legal conflict/own conflict of interest. Further identifying where there may not be a commercial conflict of interest, however it may be useful to discuss this with a requesting team for their information.
• Anti-money Laundering (AML)/ Client Due Diligence (KYC): Enhanced level, taking on every type of client the firm accepts. Working with all global offices. Identifying and assessing client risk and making risk-based judgements, including money laundering,
  jurisdiction, sanctions, and politically exposed persons risks. More exposure to working with client's in high-risk sectors such as gambling, cryptocurrency and aviation, further assessing the risks here. Working with legal teams in areas of law, such as Intellectual Property, Commercial, Corporate and Real Estate.
• A trusted member of the team who takes on more complex investigations/pieces of work for senior members of the risk team.
• A reputable member of the team who assists with training newer/less experienced compliance officers on AML, who is seen as a go-to member and helps to review their work.

Client Analyst | Global Law Firm | 2019 - 2021

• Anti-money Laundering (AML) / Client Due Diligence (KYC): Trained up to enhanced level. Working with all global offices, including UK/ Europe/ Middle East & Hong Kong. Identifying and assessing client risk and making risk-based judgements, including money laundering, jurisdiction, sanctions, and politically exposed persons risks. Working with legal teams in all areas of law.
• Project management (3 phased project, over 1 year): Working for senior in house counsel on a firm-wide project. Conducting the Ongoing Monitoring of thousands of client records. I held the project lead role in designing/ implementing/ training/ conducting/ reporting on/ critically evaluating and overseeing the process.
• Phase 1 and 2 of the project (8 months): Managing a team of people from across the firm and legal teams who had capacity to assist, all with no experience in AML.
• Phase 3 of the project: Managing 5 new analysts. 4 months dedicated to this phase, with 5,000 clients to conduct Ongoing Monitoring on. Required handling time pressure to train the analysts to the essential standard, including to a higher-level work than the previous
  phases.
• This project was a regulatory obligation to ensure compliance throughout the firm, and thus ultimately added value to the reputation of the business as a whole. It is a process the firm will adopt and reuse yearly going forward. I was recognised at senior level for my leading role in this project.
• Communication and confidence was key here as I was the project leader, not only to the team working on the project but also to senior stakeholders, taking the lead on project discussions and meetings. It required thinking outside the box and analysing whether the process needed amending with a critical view, whilst constantly evaluating key learnings - especially throughout its operation, in order to adapt and improve on a moving basis (scope control).
• A highlight of this project for me was managing the 5 analysts with no previous AML experience, most being fresh into the working world from university. It involved managing training and development, tailored to different learning techniques/speeds, supporting their progression and understanding in the anti-money laundering field, and improving performance issues.
• Proficient ability in using project management programmes and tools - JIRA.

Education

BSc Hons - Management | First Class Honours | 2015 - 2018