To rise in fincrime compliance career, conquer tech fears, get ‘uncomfortable’ to grow: Canada Summit Snapshot

The Skinny:
- To break into and rise in a field as complex and ever-changing as financial crime compliance, get ready to confront tech trepidation, jump into subjects you are “uncomfortable” and even move laterally – to eventually soar even higher in the end.
- Those are just some of the tips and tactics around how to break into and rise in the anti-money laundering (AML) field offered by many of the top fincrime compliance professionals in Canada during ACFCS’ Future of Fincrime Canada Virtual Summit.
- More than 2,000 professionals registered for the three-day event, full of deep, relevant training, networking, games, giveaways and much more.
- The conference covered topics across the spectrum of financial crime and compliance in both the public and private sectors, including regulatory focal points, enforcement trends, crypto, cannabis, data analytics, human trafficking and included a full day devoted to job skills and tactics to break into the field and rise in your career.
- On Thursday, the final day of the conference, current and former compliance officers, investigators and government officials tackled the theme of how to enter, survive and thrive in the compliance field and what skills would help professionals be in-demand now and in the future.
By Brian Monroe
bmonroe@acfcs.org
November 19, 2020
To break into and rise in a field as complex and ever-changing as financial crime compliance, get ready to confront your technology fears, jump into subjects you are “uncomfortable” with because you have little to no experience and even move laterally – to eventually soar even higher in the end.
Those
are just some of the tips and tactics around how to break into and rise in the
anti-money laundering (AML) field offered by many of the top fincrime
compliance professionals in Canada during ACFCS’ Future of Fincrime Canada Virtual
Summit.
More
than 2,000 professionals registered for the three-day event, full of deep,
relevant training, networking, games, giveaways and much more.
The
conference covered topics across the spectrum of financial crime and
compliance in both the public and private sectors, including regulatory focal
points, enforcement trends, crypto, cannabis, data analytics, human trafficking
and included a full day devoted to job skills and tactics to break into the
field and rise in your career.
On
Thursday, the final day of the conference, current and former compliance
officers, investigators and government officials tackled the theme of how to
enter, survive and thrive in the compliance field and what skills would help
professionals be in-demand now and in the future.
Speakers
offered insight on a bevy of pathways to succeed in AML and related areas,
including:
Convergent
conundrums
While
some banks fret on how to fight and file on fraud when it comes to suspicious
transaction reports (STRs), the first mistake is not seeing fraud and AML as
interlinked, part of the same continuum of illicit.
To
be effective professionally and programmatically, compliance teams need to know
both to communicate, coordinate and be a true ally of law enforcement. Banks
are breaking down silos between fincrime departments, so a diverse skillset is
not only a bonus – it could help futureproof your career.
For
more job security, try cybersecurity
Remember
that we mentioned silos are crumbling and AML and fraud should be seen as interwoven
threads of the same criminal cloth? Get ready to bone up on your cybersecurity credentials.
As
hackers, criminal groups and foreign nation-states engage in ever more
aggressive cyber-enabled frauds – think ransomware, business email compromise
and phishing fusillades – that means your counter-crime teams must be more aligned
than ever before and speak the same language.
If
you have a cyber background, speakers say start learning more about fraud and
AML as details such as the geo location and IP address of virtual attackers are
critical points to enrich STRs for investigators – in and outside the bank. If
you are an AML or fraud fanatic, get to see why IT is such an it topic du jour.
Tackling
technology by not keeping your egg(head)s in one basket
Speakers
at the conference noted that compliance professionals need not fear technology —
in fact, they should embrace it.
To
respond to tech savvy criminals, banks are employing things like artificial
intelligence, machine learning and automation to create, capture and analyze
data as never before.
What
does that mean for you as a job seeker or even someone who wants to stay
employed?
Don’t
leave all of the systems engineering, data analytics, transaction monitoring
tuning or cyber-sleuthing to the external vendors or internal eggheads. Learn
how technology empowers your program so you don’t have egg on your face when
regulators resume their rigor in a post-pandemic world.
But
also remember to be self-sufficient when it comes to software snags. That can
include something as simple as understanding how to unlock your PC or get back
on your wi-fi – without a call to your “systems” guy or gal.
Don’t
get stuck by being a gumshoe
While
speakers universally agreed these new whiz bang technologies will help better
uncover fraudsters, launderers and other corrupt oligarchs and their gilded
gatekeepers, they will never replace the need for human decision-making.
That
means wherever you are in AML, whatever your role, to rise you need to learn
more – and never stop learning.
Are
you at the bottom? Do you do know-your-customer reviews or baseline customer due
diligence?
Try
to learn what individuals and corporates could be high-risk – but present as
low risk. What businesses get supplied by high-risk regions? Push to job shadow
an AML analyst or investigator.
Are
you somewhere in the middle? Do you tabulate and analyze risk assessments? Do
you review transaction monitoring alerts for AML or fraud?
Try
to learn what are the red flags of human trafficking groups. Research to
understand what regions are more at risk for certain crimes: human smuggling, child
exploitation, elder abuse, romance scams and corruption.
But
sometimes those investigations go into virtual worlds.
Go
virtual, and I am not talking about Zoom
To
create a stronger defense for your institution and prevent your bank from
becoming a conduit for criminal groups to launder money, you need to know how
they trying to cleanse illicit gains.
How?
By staying current on virtual currency.
Don’t
get sidetracked by the debate of if Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are real
stores of value, Monopoly money or something in between. The point for
compliance professionals is that virtual currencies are being used by criminals,
to the tune of $1 billion.
So
to ensure you are don’t get writer’s block due to the blockchain working on an
STR, try to learn what virtual currencies are riskier than others. Get to know
how investigators track the “pseudo” anonymous transactions on the blockchain.
That
kind of hyper-specialized investigative knowledge is rare – and valued.
They
like me, they really like me
Speakers
during career day also highlighted that all the skills, knowledge and letters
after your name in the world will all be for naught if you can’t connect with
your team, the business and front lines and other thought leaders in the
community.
What
does it mean for you? To grow professionally, you need to grow personally.
Improve
your interpersonal skills.
Find
out the meaning of the words “emotional intelligence” and why that skillset is
valued at times even more than a glowing resume replete with noteworthy stints
and high-profile accomplishments.
In
short: there is great power in patience, empathy, kindness and having a positive,
approachable and humble attitude.
Those
attributes will also help you create genuine connections, real relationships
and even friendships with the most respected leaders in the field – individuals
who could open the door for you to new opportunities, if you know how to knock.
A
hint: don’t send your resume in your first LinkedIn message.
“Personal
development and networking are important for career advancement. Never stop
studying, stay current, and create that meaningful connection!” said one attendee.
Get
uncomfortable
One
speaker noted that in order to become a more well-rounded professional, find
the areas you fear, or think you aren’t good at, and go for it.
Do
you lack confidence in number crunching? Spend some time with the finance,
accounting and audit teams.
Are
you afraid of doting on coding? Find out what group tunes, updates and adds new
scenarios and algorithms to your transaction monitoring systems or does model validation.
Do
you cringe at crypto? Spend some time with the group who grades risk and get
them to explain the differences between virtual exchanges, P2P marketplaces,
darknet markets, the dark web and the TOR browser.
The
goal here is find out where you are fearful, weak and lack confidence and, ideally,
turn those vulnerabilities into strengths so you will have fewer blind spots
when you are pressed to see the full spectrum of financial crime
As
part of the ride, don’t be afraid to slide to the side
As
one speaker noted, if you have experienced weighted in the credit card space, but
want an AML job at a bank, don’t be afraid to take a job on the deposit side of
an institution.
Making
a lateral move, if it provides experience in an area you eventually want to be,
can buttress a region in your resume that needed support.
Balance, essential for the Force, is also a powerful ally when fincrime compliance recruiters are looking at your overall work history, a move that can help you better understand the struggles, trials and tribulations of areas outside of compliance.
“If you don’t understand how this area works and don’t understand the business model, you will miss reportable transactions and potentially defensively file,” said Fnan Desta, Senior Manager, AML Intelligence Unit, at BMO, during the Fincrime Canada Summit’s panel, The Future of FinCrime Skills – Preparing Your Skillset and Career for What’s Next. “That will elevate your risk.”