Financial Crime (EDD) Specialist – UK remote Full Time NEW

Start Date: ASAP (inside IR35)

Duration: 6 Months rolling contract

Location: UK remote

Financial Crime (EDD) Specialist

This FCC EDD role is central to managing Financial Crime Risk within Business Banking, requiring a proactive and informed approach to Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) and risk assessment. The successful candidate will be empowered to make critical decisions on behalf of the business, ensuring robust Financial Crime controls are in place and mitigating potential risks effectively.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities:

• Lead the completion of EDD reviews, leveraging Financial Crime expertise to assess and mitigate risks. This includes making decisions on behalf of the business based on a wide and varied range of triggers such as adverse media, local intelligence, transaction monitoring alerts, court orders, and annual refreshes.
• Proactively identify and understand factors contributing to high-risk profiles, utilising local intelligence and conducting annual refreshes. This involves moving beyond a checklist approach to conduct thorough investigations into transaction monitoring alerts and other potential risk indicators.
• Conduct thorough reviews of transaction monitoring (TM) information and comprehensive customer background checks, applying a keen skill set to identify anomalies and potential risks.
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of corporate business structures, operations, and financial flows, particularly within SME enterprises.
• Perform in-depth, full transactional analysis to identify unusual patterns, cash-based money laundering, investment fraud, and other potential Financial Crime indicators.
• Possess expert knowledge of diverse money laundering typologies, including cash-based schemes, placement, layering, dispersal methods, and investment frauds. Apply this understanding to sector-specific caveats, including examples such as Russian oligarchy.
• Effectively manage relationships with various internal and external stakeholders, providing insightful analysis and recommendations. Demonstrate clear accountability within the Financial Crime function, ensuring decisions and actions are well-documented and defensible.
• Produce high-quality, articulate, concise, and clear reports to document decisions and rationale, often under sensitive and urgent conditions. This includes managing data points for Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and court orders, potentially for disclosure to regulatory bodies like the NCA.

Required Skills, Experience & Qualifications:

• Significant, relevant experience in Financial Crime. Candidates should be able to demonstrate decision-making capabilities, having built this up from junior-grade roles.
• Possess comprehensive industry knowledge, full transaction analysis and a Financial Crime understanding across all industries.
• An ICA Diploma (or equivalent professional qualification) is highly desirable, particularly for senior risk management roles. Crucially, candidates must demonstrate the practical application of their qualifications and knowledge, not just their possession.
• Strong knowledge and practical application of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) and other relevant Financial Crime regulations. This includes understanding sanctions and tax evasion and knowing when to refer to specialist stakeholders.
• Proven ability to make sound, timely decisions based on complex information and risk assessments, often on behalf of the business.
• Excellent written communication skills are paramount for producing clear, concise, and defensible reports, summaries, and rationales. The ability to articulate complex issues easily is key.
• Experience working with and leveraging specialist SMEs within the business is a mandatory requirement.

Desired Attributes:

• R eleva nt Financia l Crime Experience plus the relevant qualification
• Ability to quickly integrate into the team and “hit the ground running,” adapting to new challenges efficiently.
• Understands the sensitive nature of the work and the urgency often associated with Financial Crime investigations and regulatory disclosures.
• A clear understanding of personal accountability within the role and the impact of decisions.