r/AMLCompliance

Hi all,

Long story short, I've been working in AML since graduating college (over 7 years), and I'd like to leave. Has anyone had success leaving this industry entirely? I refuse to work in law enforcement, and compliance in literally anything else isn't different enough for me. I have tried for years, with varying degrees of intensity, to leave. I earned my Series 7, and the only people willing to talk to me were brokerage call centers. I have heard so much about how being in compliance pigeonholes you. I have known HR managers personally outside the workplace; one told me they didn't bother reading cover letters.

I would love to hear any success stories. I'm skeptical to talk to a career coach because this is such a hyperspecific industry and nearly no one I've spoken to outside it understands what I do. Please feel free to DM me if talking in private is easier.

Thank you in advance.

Hi everyone. I 24 M have a bachelors degree in criminal justice and will finish my masters in forensic psychology soon. For the last 3 years I’ve worked in retail loss prevention where I led the department responsible for investigating theft, both shoplifting and employee theft. I make about $49k/year.

I’ve been doing research into a career in AML but figured that people who work in AML are the best source. Is it possible that when I finish my degree at the end of this year I can get an AML/Fraud Investigator job making more than I currently do? I would like for my next role to be a step up, even if it’s slight. I don’t have any banking experience, but 3 years of investigating retail theft.

Any advice is also appreciated!

As the heading suggests, I’m currently with a Big4, for the past 4 years, with no promotions and do not anticipate any for the next 3 years. Demotivation is real, but I’m good at what I do and on paper obviously Big4 is a good experience. I recently got an offer from a small local firm for the same role but with better salary. I’m confused on what I should do. Please advise.

Currently working as an audit associate (a little over a year of experience). I have been offered an AML Investigator role (mainly transaction monitoring) with 15% salary increase, and I'm tempted to take it as I am personally notably more interested in investigation/ financial crime compared to accounting.

I have noticed one of the main problems with AML is the lack of progression.

Would it be a bad career decision to accept this offer / pivot into fincrime so early?

Hi everyone! I’m based in London, looking to break into compliance and would really appreciate any advice.
I have five years of experience working in Equality, Diversity and Inclusions/DEI within higher education, and I’m hoping to leverage the transferable skills I’ve gained to move into a compliance role (I also have an LLB).

If anyone has any tips on getting an entry-level role, or recommendations on skills, qualifications, or experience that would help, I’d be really grateful. Thank you in advance!

During this terrible job market, I figured I would pick up SQL as a skill. I have been studying for a few weeks now, still obviously at a very beginner level. From my understanding, SQL is typically utilized for Fraud/TM rules and scenarios.

Does anyone here utilize SQL in their roles? And if so:

What type of role are you in?
Why types of queries are you running?
What do you use SQL for in your role?
What are some tools that helped you learn SQL?

Deutsche Bank's Moscow desk moved roughly $10 billion out of Russia through a scheme that looked, transaction by transaction, like ordinary equity trading. A client buys Russian shares in Moscow for rubles. A related, undisclosed counterparty sells the same shares in London for dollars. Both trades settle normally. The laundering isn't in either trade individually, it's in the relationship between the two sides.

That's why transaction monitoring missed it. No structuring pattern in the payment flow. No anomalous volume for a bank with significant Russian institutional business. No sanctions hits on the trades themselves. The risk only becomes visible when someone looks across the Moscow and London books at the same time and asks why the same client network keeps showing up on both sides of the same trades. That cross-desk, cross-jurisdiction view wasn't built into the monitoring architecture.

What makes this case different from a pure detection failure is that Deutsche Bank's own compliance staff in Moscow identified the mirror trading program as high-risk and escalated those concerns internally. The NYDFS consent order states plainly that the bank's management was aware of the compliance concerns associated with the program. The program continued anyway, for roughly four years, until the NYDFS and the FCA issued findings on the same day in January 2017: $425 million from New York, £163 million from London.

Compliance had enough visibility to identify the risk and ask the question. It didn't have enough authority to change the answer once the business decided to not act on the transactions. That's a different problem than "the monitoring system couldn't see it," and it requires a different fix; an escalation path that can actually stop activity, not just document that someone raised a concern.

How does escalation work at your institution when a risk gets flagged at the analyst or compliance officer level but the business wants to keep the relationship? Does the program have real stop authority, or does escalation mostly produce a paper trail?

Hi ,

It seems I have 2 job offers one in a big 4 as manager in FinCrime and as MLRO in a medium size fintech.

Money are more or less the same.

The fintech role provides full remote flexibility.

I am aware of the demanding duties.of both situations but I was wondering if Big 4 would look better on moly resume than MLRO in a relatively mediu size fintech.

What do you think?

Long-time data analyst here (across retail and a few other industries). Got made redundant earlier this year and instead of jumping straight back into another DA role, I'm using the break to seriously think about whether there's a better direction.

AML and financial crime compliance keeps coming up as something that could actually make sense for me. The way I see it — compliance teams need people who can build transaction monitoring dashboards, write SQL, understand data pipelines, spot patterns in messy data. That's basically what I've been doing for two decades, just pointed at retail problems instead of financial crime ones.

I'm based in Sydney so the market feels like it should be there — Big 4 banks, fintechs, the consultancies doing AUSTRAC work. And with Tranche 2 expanding AML obligations to accountants, lawyers and real estate, it feels like demand for people who actually understand the data side is only going to grow.

Planning to sit the CAMS exam later this year as a proper credential.

Honest questions:

Is the data background actually valued in AML hiring here, or do local recruiters still default to pure compliance people?

Is CAMS enough to get a foot in the door in Sydney, or do I need to be targeting specific roles — like an analytics-focused position within a financial crime team rather than a straight AML analyst role?

For anyone who's made a similar move in the Australian market — did you have to take a seniority or pay cut to break in?

Not after "back yourself!" motivation. Just want realistic takes on how the Sydney market actually works, including if the answer is "it doesn't work the way you think."

I have roughly 5 years of trading experience (first job) then pivoted into compliance. I now have 8 years of compliance experience and am Head of Compliance for a boutique wealth management firm. I have no direct reports though.

Would it be possible to get an MBA and attempt to aim for Chief Operating Officer roles in larger wealth management firms? Or my current firm (owned by a larger Group) Or is it best that I stick with my current path and attempt to get a Chief Compliance Officer role at a larger firm.

Reason I am thinking of the COO route is because I feel I have a holistic understanding of what makes the business tick and I prefer the business management elements to compliance.

I'm going to join AML right source located in noida. So, someone working there or an ex employee of AML reading this, can you tell the overview of the company? Like

How is the overall work culture and work-life balance?

How was your training, and did it prepare you well for the actual job?

What are the biggest challenges a fresher usually faces there?

Are growth opportunities and appraisals based on performance?

If you had the choice today, would you join this company again? Why or why not?

I have an IT background and basically read the full 500 pages. I also bought a secondary prep course and completed it fully, but it was quite boring and I'm not sure how much it helped, it was just 30-minute videos of someone talking to the camera with a bunch of text behind him.

What helped most, I think, was being genuinely interested in the subject. I have a project I'm working on developing a P2P payment app which kept me engaged with the material.

At the end of my preparation, I also worked a lot with Claude, going chapter by chapter and asking it to give comprehensive explanations. That made a big difference.

Yup. Thats about it lol. I have a law degree, 6 months exp in KYC compliance (but like not in an analytical capacity, my job just requires me to compile documents for KYC checks when requested by the banks, and the company/job focus is more towards accessing any privacy breaches that we might incur during these checks (basically my company is generally reluctant to give info to banks and we are encouraged to avoid giving more than necessary) unfortunately thats not what i want to do... 3 months of job search in and I havent been able to get a job in any KYC/ AML compliance roles. During interviews I have heard feedback that my expertise is misaligned with the job i want or that my skills dont relate as well as they want. Im unsure what to do now and have put in my notice cuz honestly i feel drained af and feel very unmotivated to do my job ngl (i feel so cheated ngl...) So what should i do? Im also trying to figure out what to do after my notice ends and what to do in the meantime

What is the difference between L1/L2/L3 positions?

Is writing sars reports L2?

Hi everyone, I could really use some career guidance because I'm feeling quite lost.

I'm currently working in name screening at a private bank. I'm completing my part-time diploma this year and am planning to pursue a part-time degree, but I'm unsure which path would be more beneficial for my career.

I'm deciding between:

Banking & Finance

Business Analytics

My dilemma is this:

Banking & Finance: It seems like the obvious choice since it's relevant to my current industry. However, I feel it mainly strengthens my qualifications for the role I'm already in, rather than helping me move into a different team or stand out for internal opportunities.

Business Analytics: My long-term goal is to progress along the financial crime/compliance path (Name Screening → KYC/AML → Compliance). I feel analytics could give me transferable skills in data analysis, process improvement, and decision-making that may be useful in these roles.

Another option I'm considering is skipping the degree for now and focusing on professional certifications like ACAMS instead.

I also spoke to someone from the Periodic Review team, and they mentioned that they mainly hire people with relevant experience. That made me wonder if a degree alone would actually help me make the move.

For those working in AML, KYC, compliance, or financial crime:

Which degree would you recommend?

Would Business Analytics or Banking & Finance be more valuable in the long run?

Or would professional certifications like ACAMS provide a better return on investment?

I feel quite stuck at the moment and would really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I'm a Risk & Compliance professional from India with 7 years of experience in fintech, primarily in merchant risk, AML/CFT, KYC, transaction monitoring, and regulatory compliance. I've worked with payment companies throughout my career and am currently at a senior manager level.

I've just started preparing for the CAMS certification and plan to take the exam in the next couple of months. My long-term goal is to move abroad, with Singapore being my top choice because of its strong fintech ecosystem.

I had a few questions for those who've made a similar move:

• Did CAMS make a noticeable difference when applying for roles in Singapore or other fintech hubs?
• How valuable is CAMS compared to hands-on experience in AML/Risk & Compliance?
• Did anyone relocate from India after obtaining CAMS? If so, how did you approach the job search?
• Are there specific skills or certifications (MAS regulations, sanctions, fraud, crypto compliance, etc.) that employers in Singapore value in addition to CAMS?
• Any advice on networking or finding companies that sponsor Employment Passes for experienced compliance professionals?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience—both success stories and challenges. Thanks in advance!

Hello,

Anyone know about the deputy MLRO role.. what do you need for this role?

Is significant Sanctions and KYC experience enough ?

Will you need to manage a team as deputy mlro?

Thanks

I am currently working in the due diligence sector for a local bank in the BSA division. I am looking to get a new job in a larger company, but many are hiring candidates with cryptocurrency and blockchain experience. I have the basics down, more or less, but I was wondering if anyone here has any hands-on experience doing this sort of work and if they might discuss it with me?

Hello All,

I have wanted to pursue careers in forensic accounting, compliance, and financial crimes since college. I got my undergrad in Finance and a minor in criminal justice. Sadly, neither department at the college knew what to do with me to put me on the right track. I have been working at a bank in the commerical loan credit department as an analyst and I have enjoyed building my skills as an analyst and assessing financial documents but with 3 1/2 years in this role it has not given me the burning fulfillment of serving a purpose, I am grateful to have been here but it seems like the hiring in their BSA/AML department is very full and we also just had an acqusition so we operate under a new name. I feel like I have direction, but I don't. I am currently pursuing my master's in Anti-Money Laundering and Compliance Investigations at the University of New Haven, and I am also a member of IAFCI. I am planning on pursuing the CAFCA for ACAMS in the fall and maybe the full CAMS in the spring of next year. HOWEVER!! LOL, I would love to hear from the seasoned people in the field for some guidance because the job market is difficult without experience; all I will have is my education and a couple of certificates, hopefully.

Hi everyone

I'm a lawyer based in egypt with previous experience at Barclays Bank Egypt. My experience includes account opening procedures, document verification, Customer Due Diligence (CDD), and some compliance-related work.

How realistic is it for someone with my background to secure a remote KYC/AML Analyst position with a European digital bank, fintech company, or other financial institution while being based in Egypt?

I'd appreciate hearing from professionals working in the field.

Thank you.