FinCrime Operations Senior Analyst - AUP

Company Description

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.

More about our mission and what we offer.

Job Description

As a FinCrime Operations Senior Analyst, you will play a vital role in safeguarding Wise and its customers by identifying and mitigating financial crime risks. You will be responsible for conducting thorough alert and escalation reviews, investigations, analyzing customer activities, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies. This role offers an excellent opportunity to develop your expertise in financial crime operations and contribute to maintaining the integrity of Wise's services.

Job Responsibilities

• Investigation and Analysis: Conduct thorough reviews and investigations of customer and payment activity, including their use of Wise products, to determine if behavior aligns with expected patterns or portrays higher-risk flags. This involves applying a deep understanding of Wise's compliance framework, the regulatory environment, and ongoing financial crime trends.
• Your key responsibility will be to accurately discount or escalate alerts, focusing on whether potential suspicious activity related to any financial crime is present. Document findings, decision rationale and the steps taken, adhering strictly to established procedures and best practices. The quality of your documentation around decision grounds is paramount.
• Due Diligence: Perform meticulous due diligence on customers and businesses, leveraging a variety of publicly available and internal data sources. This includes, but is not limited to, websites, financial statements, and external databases. Your work will focus on establishing connections and gaining an understanding of customer payment behavior and financial activity. You'll apply a robust, risk-based approach to ensure high-quality reviews that are efficient and consistent.
• Risk Assessment: Analyze and evaluate risk factors associated with customer profiles and transactions. Document risk assessments clearly and audibly.
• Transaction Monitoring: Review customer transaction history, analysing how they utilize Wise's various products and services. Your goal is to identify unusual patterns or suspicious activities that may indicate financial crime, with a keen eye on the risks and specific weaknesses associated with each product offering that could be exploited for abuse. This requires the ability to effectively digest large volumes of transaction information and draw sound conclusions to either confidently discount alerts or confirm suspicions.
• Escalation: Review and assess internal escalations, whether system-generated or from other teams, making informed decisions on the next steps. You will escalate suspicious activities or concerns to the Reporting team, AML and Fraud teams, or other relevant compliance functions as warranted. This includes the timely escalation of very high-profile issues or high-risk customers via established channels to senior roles or functions.
• Documentation and Record Keeping: Maintain accurate and detailed records of reviews, investigations, decisions, and customer interactions, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations and internal policies and procedures. Keep a comprehensive and clear audit trail of all actions taken, that can also withstand internal and external scrutiny.
• Compliance Guidelines: Stay up-to-date with relevant KYC/AML/due diligence/fraud regulations, sector’s best practices, market trends, and with changes in typologies and crime trends. Keep up to date with relevant regulations and internal policies, ensuring activities adhere to internal procedures, and external expectations and obligations. This requires taking steps with care, avoiding unreasonable risks and applying the general level of diligence expected from a working professional.
• Risk Management and Escalation: Escalate critical incidents, high-risk customers, significant control weaknesses, or material breaches to direct leadership in a timely and precise manner, following established