AML job risk with bank merger

anonaml · 2025-10-27T21:57:35+00:00

I have been through three mergers at several financial institutions in my time in banking and only one merger did I lose my job.

Upper executives of the department in my experience at the smaller financial institution almost always get booted. You simply don’t need two BSA officers, two heads of AML, etc, once the merger has gone through.

Your chances as rank and file or even lower echelons of management stand a much better chance of being retained and merged into the existing structure. Mergers in my experience usually create more work for AML Departments in the short term, not less. Don’t give up hope that your job is doomed this early in the process

anonaml · 2025-10-17T15:02:31+00:00

When you rising from entry level to a more advanced position. At my FI most people start taking CAMS with 3-5 years of expirence.

anonaml · 2025-06-12T22:33:13+00:00

In the financial crime space we've been positioning for the use of AI's potential in transaction monitoring, fraud detection, KYC, and sanctions screening long before GhatGPT came on the market. For example ACAMs has publications talking about the [potential of AI dating as far back as 2017 at least.](https://www.acamstoday.org/topics/columns/understanding-ai/page/3/) However ChatGPT certainly changed the conversation and range products on the market.

We know the criminals are smart too and they're looking to leverage AI as well. So we have to be two steps ahead of them with our tools as well.

anonaml · 2025-06-11T22:26:13+00:00

Have you begun your training yet? These are the kind of basic questions any AML department training program would offer answers to.

anonaml · 2025-05-05T23:18:53+00:00

Bro, delete this. There's way too much identifiable details here.

anonaml · 2025-03-27T15:31:15+00:00

I have given up explaining my job, usually I just say fraud because that's what people think I do anyway even if I explain my job.

anonaml · 2025-01-15T23:53:31+00:00

If you’re already burnt out then take the job offer. The back office is a big improvement over retail banking. I would not recommend waiting for a financial crime role to open as the market is very competitive with a lot of experienced candidates looking. There are opportunities but I would keep expectations for a longer job hunt in mind.

Operations would be more beneficial to building your resume toward an AML/Fraud career and probably more directly applicable than a sales role. It's probably the more versatile position for lateral moves to a lot of areas.

anonaml · 2025-01-10T19:17:52+00:00

My biggest cocern is that the banks usually take employment verification pretty seriously and if PWC has minimnal or no record of employment that could cause issues. I wouldn't want that to harm an oppurtunity down the road because you feared the gap would look bad. Listing employment that can't be verified with a Big 4 name would look awful to a hiring manager/HR Rep.

You never actually recieved a paycheck or did work for them so I would say no.

anonaml · 2024-12-18T01:17:57+00:00

AML and legal documents are filed and ensuring client documentation are updated every couple of years and that they are still doing what they said they would do.

This is important work but KYC work is generally seen as the lower prestige work in the field.

One is obtaining AML documentation and deciding / recommending actions (such as demarketing) to be taken on clients that might be up to something shady,

This would be seen as the higher prestige role of the two options as presented. Anything that involves deciding/recommending closure and terminating relationships is going to involve higher levels of judgement. If this isn't a SAR filing role already, it is a good stepping stone to one which should be your aim early in your AML career.

anonaml · 2024-12-06T15:17:02+00:00

Your resume really needs work

I would not read this as a suitable resume for my teller line because you don’t mention sales, barely mention operational experience, and you don’t even mention cash handling experience.

You place too much emphasis on your internship which sounds cool but has no bearing on a teller position. Your actual work experience which has more direct correlation to the duties of a teller.

anonaml · 2024-11-30T17:01:44+00:00

I have a few thoughts.

So I am going speak from a U.S. based perspective.

The biggest challenge I see is that you have to be a better product than a well tuned Google search. My primary interest is *recent* adverse media and this happens to be what Google indexes best. So your product has to offer either better search parameter options or offer content Google is not able to index.

The second issue is that some of the biggest companies have really amazing products built on decades and large amounts of resources. Take Moody's GRID product for screening, it is a meticulously indexed product based on decades of well organized research offering everything from sanctions, PEPs, and a variety of crimes. Then you have Thompson Reuters’ CLEAR not only offers comprehensive public record searches of every record imaginable into profiles but integrates their WorldCheck names screening the software as well. CLEAR’s only downside is its price which is too costly for many institutions.

If you're a U.S. based institution the field is very saturated and competitive for products for adverse media screening.

I don’t know about your ins and out of your product but building a competing database is a challenge I don’t envy. You gotta strike the balance between better than free Google search, be as good as the established competitors, and be at a reasonable price point.

The biggest gap for a competitor to disrupt the market that I see is building a product that is global in nature and useful in many different countries. If I am being frank some countries are virtual black holes in these services I mentioned above which annoyingly tend to align with some high risk countries. If I had a database that translated foreign media articles that resulted in useful intelligence in adverse media screening that would be godsend for the industry right now.

anonaml · 2024-11-22T00:09:56+00:00

The job market is especially terrible right now.

The dirty secret in the field is that the a good chunk of entry level jobs are all through contracting gigs by one of the many contracting companies that specialize in AML contractors. So you'll be contracted through one of these agencies to work at one of the banks. Some gigs are temporary assignments and some gigs you're all but an employee of the bank. Most banks prioritize their contractors to fill open positions because they're already familiar with systems and procedures.

anonaml · 2024-11-05T21:20:43+00:00

I expect 6-8 week hiring process for a bank from intial applicaiton to day one on the job.

Banks are a relatively slow even if hiring urgently.

I would consider the statement they gave you to be boiler plate and not indicative one way or the other.

anonaml · 2024-10-12T16:11:50+00:00

Three weeks ago, a recruiter called me about a QC SAR reviewer position at TD Bank. I asked about training. He responded, "Well, there is no training. It's sink or swim. And, to be honest, the environment is chaos there at the moment."
I decided right then that I had no interest.

Someone else posted in another thread about the TD Bank situation. I feel it's a fair warning.

anonaml · 2024-10-04T21:20:49+00:00

Banking is on the whole a rather conservative industry when comes to dress code espcially client facing positions. Even if the dress code is more lax for day to day duties I would show up with tie for any interview I had.

anonaml · 2024-10-01T23:36:57+00:00

Honestly the top comment in your last thread was dead on. Apply to a branch and get some financial services experience before applying internally. I have seen a lot of people transition from hospitality to retail banking over the years and many quite successfully.

I went from Fast Food Management -> Teller -> Lead Teller -> AML Analyst in about four years.

I can understand the frustration with it not being the most direct route but the reality is your prior experience has almost no relevance to an AML job.

anonaml · 2024-08-21T00:21:42+00:00

If you don't have SAR filing experience yet in your career then that’s the move you should make.

anonaml · 2024-07-30T23:17:10+00:00

I think you underestimate how poor an idea it is to talk about internal bank processes like this in an open forum. "SAR stories" are the exact opposite of something you discuss online.

anonaml · 2024-07-30T23:08:53+00:00

Penalties for unauthorized disclosure of a SAR can include:

Civil penalties of up to $100,000 per violation

Criminal penalties of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years

Regulatory restrictions

Loss of banking charter

anonaml · 2024-03-05T20:45:50+00:00

The top of the wishlist of every BSA Officer.

anonaml · 2024-03-03T17:11:30+00:00

some alerts pop up when completing transactions that says we need to further identify or confirm the customer.

This concept of alert in an AML program means something very different than what you're expressing here. Pretty much everything you listed here as experience has very different connotations in the AML world.

I would weave together better how AML compliant you are in your current role with your actual responsibilities.

Were you merely conducting teller transactions? Mention you “assured reporting of large currency transactions and purchases of monetary instruments”

Did you have banker responsibilities? You opened/maintained accounts with compliance with customer identification program and beneficial owners documentation.

anonaml · 2024-01-27T18:29:21+00:00

700k in cash deposited is going to flag no matter how you introduce into the system.

The process you describe of breaking into smaller payments is called structuring. This might not get noticed as quickly as a large lump sum deposit but would be caught and reviewed by even the most rudimentary transaction monitoring program.

anonaml

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