Compliance Associate

About Wahed:

We have a passion to reduce financial inequality and exclusion by building world leading financial products and services aimed at giving access to all. We are a New York headquartered Financial Technology (FinTech) company focused on serving values-based (shariah compliant) digital financial services to retail clients globally, starting with wealth management. We have an impressive global team aligned with this purpose and are looking for trail blazers in their fields that will take our customer delivery to new levels. We can promise you a digital first and truly international culture, as well as a fascinating immersion into the world of FinTech and Islamic finance.

Job Description

• We are seeking a detail-oriented Compliance Associate in overseeing and enhancing our transaction monitoring process across the UK, Malaysia & UAE. The Ideal candidate will assist in identifying and investigating suspicious activities and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and supporting the regulated firm in meeting its anti-money laundering (AML) obligations. 




• Transaction Monitoring:




• Perform daily transaction monitoring of customer transactions using internal systems and tools to detect potential money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other financial crime risks.
• Investigate alerts generated by internal transaction monitoring systems as well as those raised by our custodian, to analyse customer behaviour and document findings with appropriate rationale.
• Collaborate with other teams (e.g., onboarding, KYC, operations, ) to obtain necessary customer or transactional information.
• Maintain accurate and detailed records for all transaction monitoring activities, ensuring relevant registers and systems are updated on a regular basis.
• Draft Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for filing with regulatory authority.
• Identify trends and patterns that may indicate financial crimes, including money laundering and terrorist financing. 
• Maintain detailed case records and support compliance reporting requirements.




• Customer Due Diligence (CDD) & KYC:
• Review and verify Know Your Customer (KYC) documents for onboarding and existing clients.
• Ensure adherence to customer due diligence (CDD) and enhanced due diligence (EDD) requirements.
• Support the compliance team in client risk assessments and risk-based approach analysis.




• Compliance Systems & Controls:
• Assist in the optimization and calibration of transaction monitoring systems.
• Work with the IT and Risk teams to enhance automated monitoring tools.
• Recommend improvements in compliance processes to mitigate financial crime risks




• Regulatory and Compliance support:
• Support the MLROs in UK, MYS & UAE in ensuring compliance with AML/CFT regulations and internal policies.
• Monitoring changes in AML/CFT regulations and contributing to policy updates where necessary.
• Support MLROs in periodic review and enhancement of transaction monitoring rules, thresholds and systems.

Skills & Competencies:

Master's / Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Law, or a related field.

2-4 years of experience in AML/Compliance, with a focus on transaction monitoring.

Basic understanding of financial regulations or a strong interest in compliance and AML.

Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Good analytical and problem-solving skills.

Effective written and verbal communication skills.

Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook).