AML Compliance Specialist

About the position

The AML Compliance Specialist will play a critical role in conducting research, analysis, and investigations of potentially suspicious transactional activities in an online environment. As a member of the Compliance Team, the AML Compliance Specialist will monitor for and assess issues, patterns, and trends associated with money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other financial crime-related risks.

Responsibilities

• Conduct thorough reviews of alerted and out-of-pattern customer transactional activity in line with applicable laws, regulations, and Company policies
• Apply detailed analysis to transactions and large data sets in order to fully identify and address red flags
• Assist with drafting Suspicious Activity Reports ('SARs') within regulatory deadlines
• Provide direct support to the Compliance Team, including efficient detection and investigation of customers and transactions deemed potentially suspicious per Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering ('BSA/AML') regulations
• Proactively encourage team development through sharing of knowledge and best practices across the department
• Identify potential gaps and make recommendations to further enhance the AML Compliance programs
• Assist in supporting other Compliance-related functions, including OFAC screening, KYC reviews, and recordkeeping
• Assist with addressing regulatory exam and audit requests
• Monitor investigation-related tickets in Freshdesk and assign them to the appropriate agents or teams
• Review cases submitted through the Company Escalation Form and update the Alert Tracker, as needed
• Prepare compliance reporting for management review as needed
• Attend Company-directed training to stay informed of emerging financial crime trends and changes to applicable laws, rules, and regulations
• Assist the Senior Supervisor in designing templates to improve efficiency, such as automation
• Assist the Senior Supervisor in resolving false alerts generated in the Company's transaction monitoring and case management systems and in-house-built tools
• Perform additional transaction monitoring duties as assigned by the Senior Supervisor.

Requirements

• BA/BS degree or equivalent experience
• 3+ years of direct experience as a compliance, operations, or risk management professional at a money services business or financial institution
• Strong knowledge of AML rules, laws, and regulations with experience applying them in assessing potentially suspicious transactional activity
• Experience monitoring high-risk customers and/or accounts is preferred
• Strong analytical skills with financial crime and/or risk management investigative experience required
• Advanced Google Sheet and Microsoft Office skills (Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Access) including the use of pivot tables
• Ability to multi-task and stay flexible in a fast-paced, changing environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Extremely organized and detail-oriented with the ability to make sound decisions supported by facts and analysis
• Ability to work on confidential and sensitive matters with a high degree of professionalism and discretion
• Comfortable executing independent judgment with minimal supervision
• Willingness to learn and apply new skills

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with software programming or automation a plus
• Experience using customer relationship management ('CRM') software such as Freshdesk or Zendesk is preferred