Financial Crime Advisory Officer

At Kroo Bank, we’re building a better bank from the ground up. One that puts customers first, treats money responsibly, and uses technology to make everyday banking simpler, fairer and more transparent. We’re a fully regulated UK bank, backed by long-term investors, with a growing customer base and big ambitions. We move fast, think carefully, and hold ourselves to the highest standards, whether that’s how we engage with our customers, build products, manage risk, or look after our people.

How you will contribute and key responsibilities:

As a Financial Crime Advisory Officer, your primary responsibility will be to provide expert second line financial crime advice, challenge and oversight to protect Kroo Bank and its customers from financial crime risk. You will play a central role in managing and executing financial crime compliance and monitoring programmes, maintaining policies and procedures, and translating complex UK regulatory requirements into practical guidance and controls for the business. You will work closely with first line, Compliance, Legal and Risk teams to support an effective and proportionate financial crime control framework. Other responsibilities include:

• Deliver clear, constructive challenge, expert insight and feedback to the first line of defence on financial crime best practice and regulatory developments.
• Manage and execute financial crime compliance and system monitoring programmes to ensure the bank’s activities align with UK regulatory requirements and internal standards.
• Update and maintain financial crime policies, standards and procedures, ensuring alignment with the UK regulatory framework including the FCA handbook, POCA, TACT and JMLSG guidance.
• Assist in designing and delivering business wide risk assessments, country risk assessments and other thematic risk assessments in line with regulatory expectations.
• Manage and progress follow up actions from risk assessments, reviews and audits to strengthen the financial crime control framework and ensure timely remediation.
• Enhance and produce financial crime related management information and dashboards, using tools such as Lightdash and Excel to support effective senior management oversight.
• Provide regular reports and updates to senior stakeholders and executive committees on the bank’s financial crime risk profile, key issues and emerging themes.
• Deliver financial crime gap analysis, review and assurance papers, identifying areas for improvement and recommending proportionate enhancements to controls.
• Conduct regular horizon scanning to identify emerging financial crime risks, regulatory changes and industry trends, assessing their potential impact on Kroo Bank.
• Produce concise summary papers and briefings for senior stakeholders and executive committees, translating technical regulations into clear and actionable insights.
• Work closely with first line, Compliance, Legal, Risk and other teams to ensure a coordinated and consistent approach to financial crime risk management across the bank.
• Foster a strong culture of financial crime compliance and awareness, supporting the design and delivery of communications and training to ensure colleagues understand their responsibilities.
• Carry out other duties as assigned to meet business needs and support the wider Financial Crime function.

Requirements:
About You

While not essential, the following experience and qualifications are highly desirable in our ideal candidate for this position:

• Manage and execute financial crime compliance and system monitoring programs.
• Be responsible for updating financial crime policies and procedures and ensuring compliance to the UK regulatory framework.
• Assist in the delivery of the business wide risk assessment in line with regulatory expectations. Manage and progress the follow up actions to strengthen the control framework.
• Provide challenge, insight and feedback to 1LOD in matters pertaining to financial crime best practice and regulation.
• Enhance and produce financial crime related management information and dashboards.
• Scope, write and deliver high quality Financial Crime Gap analysis, review and assurance papers.
• Complete horizon scanning on a regular basis and produce summary papers for senior stakeholders and executive committees.

Ideally you’ll have:

• Strong regulation, legislation and best practice knowledge are requirements for this role. (FCA handbook, POCA, TACT, `JMLSG).
• Two years relevant experience within a Second Line Financial Crime Compliance Team.
• AML or Financial Crime qualification (ICA or ACAMS) preferred
• Experience using data systems such as Lightdash, Excel
• Strong attention to detail and analytical skills.

About Our Process:

We can be flexible with the structure of our interview process if someone's circumstances or timescales require it but our general structure is:

• 30-minute people screen with our talent acquisition specialist via google hangouts.
• 1-hour technical interview via google hangouts.
• 45-minute final interview via face to face or google hangouts.

Please let us know if you have any specific requirements or need assistance so we can be as accommodating as possible for you.

Benefits:
What we offer:

At our cutting-edge fintech company, we know that attracting and retaining the best talent means offering top-notch benefits that help our employees thrive both in and outside of work. Check out what we currently offer:

• Generous holiday time: 25 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays, 1 Kroo bank holiday (June 24th), and 1 day off during the week of your birthday.
• Personal days: We know that life can be unpredictable, so we offer 3 personal days to use as needed.
• Employer-sponsored volunteer program: We're passionate about giving back to our community, and we support our employees in doing the same with up to 4 hours per month of employer-sponsored volunteer time.
• Mental health support: We care about the mental health of our team members and offer access to Spill, our mental health support partner.
• Workplace pension: We want you to feel secure about your future, so we offer a workplace pension with a 5% employee contribution and a 3% employer top-up.
• Top-notch equipment: We provide top-of-the-line equipment necessary for smooth hybrid work, including a MacBook laptop. Additionally, we also offer support in establishing your home office by contributing towards your setup if required.
• Modern office: When you're in the office, you'll enjoy access to our modern, bustling workspace in Farringdon (Central London).
• Cycle to Work scheme: We encourage sustainable transportation with our Cycle to Work scheme.
• Electric Car scheme: We're committed to reducing our carbon footprint, and our Electric Car scheme makes it easy for our employees to do the same.
• Enhanced parental leave: We know that family comes first, and we offer an enhanced parental leave policy to support our employees in starting and growing their families.
• Room for growth: As a fast-paced, high-growth start-up, we're dedicated to providing our employees with room to grow and excel.
• You get full healthcare for you and your nuclear family via Vitality.

Hybrid Working:

At Kroo Bank, we have a hybrid policy that gives both individuals and teams a lot of freedom when it comes to using the office space to boost productivity. Our London office is a great resource when used effectively. So, employees who can occasionally come to the office are a good fit for how we work right now. Keep in mind that this job involves working from Monday to Friday, with a mix of remote and office work, so you won't need to be on-site all the time.

Diversity and Inclusion:

We wholeheartedly uphold our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. Every employee is highly regarded, respected, and supported without any form of judgement or prejudice. We consider Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion as fundamental pillars guiding our path in all aspects of our bank. We also ensure that reasonable adjustments are made available to all candidates throughout the recruitment process.

To all Recruitment Agencies:

At Kroo Bank, agency resumes are strictly prohibited. Do not submit agency resumes or forward them to our job advertisements or Kroo Bank employees. Be aware that Kroo Bank will not assume any responsibility for fees incurred due to unsolicited resumes.

To ensure a fair and efficient application process, all candidates are kindly requested to submit their applications directly through the advertised platform. We kindly ask that you refrain from reaching out to the company or its employees via email, LinkedIn, or any other communication channels for inquiries or updates. Please note that any attempts to contact us through these channels will not receive a response. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.