Sanctions Advisor (Operations) - Uncover Suspicious Activity

Job description / Role

The Sanctions Advisor will work with the Sanctions Compliance Operations Manager for the MENAP region in support of Sanctions Compliance Operations, including; (cash and trade) transaction review and escalation within transactional systems, support to the Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) Sanctions team in terms of processes and procedure development, support to the business on payment related queries, and proactive address of business risks resulting from sanctions transactions trends, metrics collection and transactional investigations.

Key Roles and Responsibilities
- Assist the Regional Head of Sanctions - MENAP, and the Sanctions Compliance Operations Manager in overseeing the regional compliance responsibilities for Sanctions
- Provide sanctions compliance advice and guidance to businesses and functions throughout in a timely, effective and constructive manner on client relationships, transactions, products and all other issues escalated to the Regional FCC Sanctions
- Be updated on current events, regulatory issues and new and changing sanctions regulations, in country, in the UK and the US, and internationally
- Primary responsibility for ensuring robust compliance around sanctions operations to include;
- BAU for transactional (cash and trade) reviews
- Support to business and Group Technology and Operations (GTO) on transactional queries
- Coordination with Group or other regional offices required to support transactional activities
- Maintenance of processes and procedures around sanctions compliance operations activities
- Demonstrate and understanding of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Group policies and procedures on Sanctions and be able to advise Business and regional offices with respect to operational activities.
- Support to Senior leadership for any Operations related project activity
- Oversight of processes around rejected transactions (Customer Sanctions Review process) including reporting of breaches, Potential Circumvention Attempts, addition to internal filters, and capturing of trends
- Support Financial Crime Compliance Quality Assurance in the review of transactional activity
- Coordinate and report the reporting of key transactional related metrics to Financial Crime Compliance Sanctions leadership on a regular basis
- Support training and awareness activities and needs for the MENAP region
- Evaluate and advise on reputational and sanctions risk arising from customers and transactions
- Escalate immediately to Regional Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Global Sanctions Advisor any material breaches or potential breaches of sanctions laws, regulation or Group procedures

Leadership and Management
- Display leadership and teamwork to the operations teams in countries and in regional processing hubs
- Exhibit leadership and teamwork when dealing with business colleagues across the region, who are the internal clients for sanctions-related advice and assistance

Knowledge Development and Information Management
- Develop the expertise of other members of within the Sanctions team and the MENAP Financial Crime Compliance team
- Interact with the business to provide clear understanding of our sanctions program and provides periodic training to improve sanctions knowledge and awareness as it relates to business operations.

Stakeholders Relations
- Establish and develop effective working relationships with SCB MENAP business contacts and functional contacts in the effort of partnering to improve sanctions compliance operations.
- Build relationships within Financial Crime Compliance and other MENAP functional teams for greater efficiencies in systems that require Sanctions oversight
- Build relationship with regional country offices in order to support in-country transactional activity and business queries, and to provide guidance and oversight of sanctions compliance processes.

Requirements

- The successful candidate will have a minimum of 5-10 years solid Sanctions experience.
- You will have delivered effective Financial Crime Compliance / Sanctions training programs to meet the training needs of the business.
- You will have implemented Financial Crime Compliance / sanctions risks identification and assessment and advise business on the findings.
- You will be able to advise the business on compliance and regulatory matters relating to Sanctions as well as financial services industry related practices.
- You will have experience partnering with the business to make decisions based on the knowledge and interpretation of current and possible future policies, practices, trends and information of financial crime.
- It would highly desirable if you had a relevant Financial Crime / Sanctions qualification / certification.

About the Company

Standard Chartered Bank started in 1958 in UAE with its first branch in Sharjah. The Group’s business gradually increased in Dubai with the opening of several branches and today, Dubai is the administrative hub of the Middle East and South Asia Region. In its 43rd year, the Bank enjoys the position of having the most extensive branch network among foreign international banks in UAE with 10 branches emirate-wide.

Standard Chartered is an international bank, focused on the established and emerging markets of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America with an extensive global network of more than 600 offices in over 50 countries. The three principal business groups are Global Markets, Personal Banking and Corporate and Institutional Banking.

In UAE, we are one of the leading banks, offering an extensive range of products and services for personal customers, local companies, multinational corporate and financial institutions.