Financial Crime Officer - 9 month FTC

Seeking an experienced CDD Advisory Specialist to lead oversight of Customer Due Diligence activities across Corporate Banking and Capital Markets client populations. The role sits within the first line of defence and carries responsibility for CDD quality, MI oversight, analyst coaching, and complex case advisory, ensuring regulatory compliance while supporting efficient client onboarding and lifecycle management. The successful candidate will act as a subject matter expert for complex corporate structures, high-risk clients and escalations, while maintaining strong governance over QA, MI, and policy adherence.

Key Responsibilities

• CDD Advisory & Escalations
  • Act as the primary CDD/EDD advisory lead for complex Corporate Banking and Capital Markets clients, including corporates, financial institutions, funds, SPVs, trusts and nominee structures.
  • Provide expert guidance on beneficial ownership, control, source of wealth/funds, sanctions and PEP exposure.
  • Review and sign-off high-risk and out-of-risk-appetite cases, supporting senior management and governance forums with clear risk-based recommendations.
  • Partner with Relationship Managers, Front Office, Compliance and Operations to resolve complex onboarding and lifecycle issues.
• CDD Oversight & Quality Assurance
  • Maintain oversight of end-to-end CDD processes across onboarding, periodic reviews and event-driven reviews.
  • Design, execute and enhance QA sampling frameworks, ensuring consistency, regulatory alignment and defensible outcomes.
  • Review QA findings, identify root causes and define remediation actions to improve CDD quality and control effectiveness.
• Management Information (MI) & Governance
  • Own the production and oversight of weekly and monthly CDD MI, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and meaningful insight.
  • Provide clear commentary and analysis on MI outputs, including risk trends, backlog management, SLA performance and emerging issues.
  • Prepare MI and risk reporting for senior management and governance committees.
• Policy, Procedure & Regulatory Alignment
  • Support the development, interpretation and embedment of CDD policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with evolving UK and global regulatory requirements.
  • Monitor regulatory developments and sanctions updates, embedding changes into CDD processes and controls.
  • Support internal and external audit activity, ensuring documentation and CDD outcomes are complete, accurate and defensible.

Required Experience & Background

• Strong CDD Advisory and Oversight experience within Corporate Banking and/or Capital Markets environments.
• Proven experience handling complex corporate structures and high-risk client populations.
• Demonstrable ownership of CDD MI, QA frameworks and analyst coaching.
• Strong understanding of UK AML regulations, JMLSG guidance, sanctions regimes and risk-based approaches.
• Experience working within a 1LOD oversight role, with close interaction with 2LOD Compliance.