Director of Financial Crimes Prevention

Central Pacific Bank•Honolulu, HI

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Provide enterprise-wide strategic leadership, governance, and oversight of the Bank’s Financial Crimes Program, integrating BSA/AML/OFAC compliance and Fraud Risk Management under a unified framework. Accountable for establishing and maintaining a risk-based, well-governed, and adequately resourced program that meets U.S. regulatory expectations, supports safe and sound operations, and protects customers and the Bank from financial loss, regulatory risk, and illicit activity. Serves as a principal advisor to executive management and the Board (or designated Board committee) on the Bank’s financial crimes risk profile, program performance, and emerging threats. This senior leadership role is responsible for setting the vision, strategy, and governance structure for the Bank’s Financial Crimes Program. The Director ensures effective coordination across BSA/AML/OFAC and Fraud functions, defines enterprise standards and decision rights, and provides independent oversight and challenge to ensure programs remain risk-based, compliant, and effective as the Bank’s size, complexity, and risk profile evolve. Performs all duties and interacts with internal and external customers in a manner that is expressly aligned with the Company's Core Values of approaching all actions with a “Voyaging Spirit” and being “Positively Ohana”. Exhibits core competencies that result in consistent delivery of positive Customer Interactions, Empowerment and Ownership and demonstrates key professional and performance skills such as Active Listening, effective Oral and Written Communication, Action and Solution Oriented and Thoroughness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited 4-year university, preferably in a related field required.
10+ years of experience in financial crimes risk management and/or compliance within a regulated financial institution, including meaningful BSA/AML and/or fraud leadership exposure required.
7+ years in a Supervisory role or 5+ years of management experience managing 3 to 5 employees required.

Nice To Haves

Professional certifications such as CAMS/ACAMS (or equivalent), CFE, CRCM, or similar financial crimes/risk credentials preferred.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain a Bank-wide Financial Crimes Strategy, including a multi-year roadmap covering AML/CFT, OFAC governance, fraud risk, identity theft controls, investigations, training, analytics, and enabling technology.
Integrate financial crimes intelligence (typologies, alerts, case outcomes, losses) across AML and fraud to improve detection, prevention, and reporting effectiveness and reduce duplication.
Define and maintain enterprise standards for financial crimes risk taxonomy, risk acceptance criteria, escalation thresholds, and decision rights.
Develop and report enterprise KPIs/KRIs and program performance measures (e.g., alert and case timeliness, SAR/CTR quality, fraud losses and preventions, control exceptions, model/rule performance, and issue remediation status).
Partner with business, operations, technology, legal, and risk leaders to embed financial crimes controls into products, channels, customer journeys, and third-party arrangements.
Lead Financial Crimes governance forums and ensure committee charters, agendas, minutes, and escalation protocols are documented and effective.
Ensure clear three-lines-of-defense role clarity and independence protections for compliance and investigative judgments, including SAR governance and escalation.
Set expectations for strong talent management, succession planning, and specialized expertise across the financial crimes function (investigations, analytics, operations, quality assurance, training, and technology governance).
Ensure program resources (staffing, technology, training, and vendor support) are commensurate with risk profile and strategic objectives.
Direct enterprise financial crimes training strategy, including tiered and role-based training for the Board, senior management, frontline staff, and investigators; measure and report training effectiveness.
Serve as a senior point of contact for regulatory examinations and inquiries related to BSA/AML/OFAC and fraud risk management; coordinate narratives, documentation, and subject matter expert participation.
Oversee timely and complete responses to examination and audit findings; ensure corrective action plans include root cause analysis, clear owners, target dates, and validation of remediation.
Establish enterprise governance for SAR decisioning, escalation, and quality assurance; ensure standards for documentation, evidence retention, and timely filing are maintained.
Oversee enterprise fraud risk management principles (governance, prevention, detection, response, and reporting) commensurate with the Bank’s size, complexity, and risk profile.
Establish governance for monitoring/detection systems (transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, fraud detection, case management), including change control, rule/threshold tuning governance, performance monitoring, and audit trails.
Oversee vendor management expectations for financial crimes systems and service providers, including due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and contractual control requirements.
Ensure independent testing coverage and cadence for financial crimes programs and enabling systems; track and report issues through closure with validation of remediation effectiveness.
Attract, develop, and retain the staff to achieve short- and long-term goals and objectives. Create an environment where the Bank’s performance management process is administered fairly; hold others accountable, address performance issues appropriately, provide frequent development opportunities, and make investments to allow for the advancement of existing staff.