Suganya N Kamalakannan
Summary
Client Outreach and Financial Crime Specialist with over 10 years of experience across Global Corporate & Investment Banking, Insurance and Brokerage sectors, specializing in KYC, AML, Sanctions and Anti-Bribery & Corruption compliance. Demonstrated expertise in managing end-to-end client outreach for periodic and event-driven reviews, guiding clients through CDD and ECDD requirements and ensuring adherence to global regulatory standards while safeguarding sensitive client information.
Extensive experience operating within the 1LoD with close alignment to Global Financial Crime (GFC) and 2LoD oversight frameworks. Proven ability to partner with Front Office, Relationship Managers, Sales, Operations, AML Advisory, Sanctions and ECDD teams to deliver regulatory refresh programmes, manage escalations, support governance routines and maintain control discipline across complex, multi-jurisdictional client portfolios. Recognized for strengthening control environments, enabling effective financial crime risk mitigation and consistently delivering regulatory compliance within global banking organisations.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work history
VP - Client Outreach Specialist
Bank of America
, UK
2022.10 - Current
- Led end-to-end client outreach for Financial Institution portfolios within Global Corporate & Investment Banking, ensuring timely completion of periodic and event-driven KYC reviews in accordance with global AML, Sanctions and regulatory requirements.
- Acted as the primary liaison between clients and internal stakeholders, strengthening governance, mitigating compliance risks and enhancing client lifecycle management.
- Partnered closely with Front Office, Operations, Risk, FLU Business Controls and Change teams to maintain regulatory compliance, improve outreach effectiveness and support continuous process and control enhancements.
- Owned end-to-end client outreach across multiple jurisdictions, successfully delivering over 100+ periodic refresh and event-driven KYC cases while maintaining strong SLA discipline and minimizing client impact.
- Served as the central point of contact for Clients, Relationship Managers, Front Office, Operations, Risk and Business Control functions, ensuring effective stakeholder coordination, escalation management and transparent progress tracking.
- Guided clients through Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD/ECDD) requirements, ensuring full adherence to AML regulations, internal policies and data privacy standards governing non-public client information.
- Monitored portfolio-level KYC compliance risks and proactively mitigated potential regulatory impacts, including account restrictions and closures, by driving timely remediation and documentation completion.
- Reviewed client profiles, ownership structures and transactional activity, providing risk-based recommendations to Bankers and internal stakeholders regarding relationship continuation and regulatory compliance considerations.
- Partnered with Banking, Sales, FLU Change, FLU Business Controls, Operations and Risk teams to coordinate outreach execution, monitor performance metrics and ensure alignment with governance routines and regulatory expectations.
- Identified jurisdiction-specific regulatory requirements and documentation nuances, providing guidance to clients and internal stakeholders to ensure compliance with local and global regulatory frameworks.
- Collected and analyzed client and stakeholder feedback to identify process inefficiencies, contributing to continuous improvement initiatives that enhanced client experience, reduced cycle times and strengthened control effectiveness.
- Supported governance and operational oversight through accurate reporting, capacity planning and exception management, ensuring timely resolution of outstanding items and regulatory deliverables.
- Mentored and supported junior team members, providing guidance on client engagement, regulatory requirements and outreach best practices to improve team capability and delivery consistency.
- Consistently met and exceeded performance objectives while maintaining strong control discipline, regulatory adherence and a client-centric approach aligned with the Bank's financial crime risk management framework.
Due Diligence Officer (AML/KYC) Contractor
BNP Paribas
, UK
2019.11 - 2022.04
- Performed Enhanced Due Diligence and financial crime risk assessments for high-risk clients within Corporate and Investment Banking, ensuring compliance with UK and global AML, Sanctions and Anti-Bribery & Corruption regulations.
- Specialized in reviewing complex ownership structures, supporting onboarding and periodic review programmes and strengthening financial crime governance through risk-based analysis, stakeholder engagement and escalation to Compliance and MLRO functions.
- Conducted periodic and ongoing CDD and EDD reviews for high-risk clients, including Funds, SPVs, Trusts, Charities, LLPs and other complex legal entities, ensuring compliance with UK and global regulatory standards.
- Analyzed and unwrapped complex ownership and control structures, identifying UBOs, assessing AML, Sanctions and reputational risks and documenting risk-based conclusions in accordance with internal policies and regulatory expectations.
- Served as escalation point for high-risk and complex client cases, consolidating key risk indicators and presenting structured risk summaries to Senior Management, Compliance and MLRO to support approval and relationship continuation decisions.
- Led day-to-day management of a team of seven KYC analysts, overseeing productivity, quality assurance, timeliness and performance management across onboarding, periodic review and remediation activities.
- Produced and presented MI reports and risk metrics covering AML, Sanctions and Anti-Bribery & Corruption exposures, supporting governance routines, regulatory oversight and senior management reporting.
- Performed sanctions screening, adverse media searches and PEP assessments using industry-standard tools including Fircosoft, Dow Jones Factiva and Fenergo, ensuring accurate client risk classification and regulatory compliance.
- Utilized the Fenergo KYC platform to support onboarding, ongoing due diligence, periodic refresh and client risk revalidation processes in line with global AML and Sanctions requirements.
- Responded to Front Office and Compliance queries, providing risk-based guidance, resolving due diligence exceptions and ensuring timely escalation and remediation of financial crime risks.
- Led Anti-Bribery & Corruption (ABC) and Anti-Tax Evasion (ATE) risk assessment programmes for third parties, including brokers and distributors, strengthening third-party risk management controls and ensuring regulatory compliance.
- Supported regulatory change and process enhancement initiatives and successfully transitioned ABC/ATE due diligence activities to offshore teams, delivering structured training, knowledge transfer and ongoing oversight to ensure operational continuity and control effectiveness.
Sanctions Advisor (Contractor)
Willis Tower Watson
, UK
2019.08 - 2019.10
- Provided sanctions advisory support within the Global Financial Crime framework, ensuring compliance with international sanctions regimes and export control regulations and supporting governance and risk management across business activities.
- Reviewed and approved or declined sanctions referrals in accordance with Global Sanctions and Export Controls policies, escalating complex or high-risk matters to Group Compliance and senior stakeholders where required.
- Performed quality assurance of sanctions screening conducted by offshore teams and provided advisory support on export control and licensing queries, liaising with Compliance and external legal counsel as appropriate.
- Supported the maintenance and governance of the Global Sanctions Framework, ensuring alignment with applicable sanctions regulations, internal policies and financial crime risk management standards.
- Prepared sanctions risk summaries and briefing materials for senior management and governance forums, highlighting financial crime risks and supporting informed decision-making.
Financial Crime Analyst (Contractor)
AXA
, UK
2018.06 - 2019.04
- Provided 2LoD support to the UK Financial Crime function, specializing in sanctions screening, Anti-Bribery & Corruption (SAPIN II) compliance and Financial Crime Framework enhancement.
- Supported sanctions alert disposition, regulatory gap analysis and control implementation to ensure compliance with UK and international financial crime regulations.
- Reviewed and dispositioned sanctions screening alerts generated through BAE Systems NetReveal (Norkom), conducting investigations, escalation, and risk assessment, while collaborating with sanctions list management teams to implement tuning and whitelisting criteria to reduce false positives.
- Supported migration and testing of the NetReveal sanctions screening platform (v5.7 to v7.2) and contributed to drafting operational procedures ahead of outsourcing sanctions screening activities to offshore teams, strengthening control consistency and governance.
- Supported maintenance and enhancement of the UK Financial Crime Framework, providing advisory support to the Financial Crime Manager on sanctions controls, regulatory compliance and financial crime risk mitigation across AXA UK entities.
- Contributed to SAPIN II Anti-Bribery & Corruption compliance initiatives, including questionnaire assessments, policy gap analysis across sanctions, gifts and hospitality and ABC controls and supported KYC information gathering and regulatory enquiries involving corporate offices and international stakeholders.
Business Analyst Sanctions IT (Contractor)
Barclays
, UK
2015.10 - 2018.05
- Provided Business Analysis support within the Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) Sanctions Technology function, focusing on payment sanctions screening, filter optimization and change governance using Temenos Vrisk and Fircosoft.
- Supported regulatory compliance by enhancing sanctions screening effectiveness, managing sanctions-related system changes and strengthening control frameworks aligned with global sanctions policies.
- Supported payment sanctions screening operations using Temenos Vrisk and Fircosoft filter engine (FLM/FMM), incorporating and validating entries in global private lists and watchlists to improve screening accuracy and reduce false positives.
- Managed sanctions filter tuning and workflow configuration using Fircosoft Continuity GUI, including updates to rule files, tuning logic and screening parameters to enhance detection effectiveness and control performance.
- Led impact assessments for sanctions change initiatives, analyzing implications of new SWIFT MT message types, payment field additions or modifications and screening rule changes to ensure effective sanctions control coverage.
- Managed the Payments Sanctions Change Process and Control framework, supporting governance routines and participating in Change Board meetings to review, validate and implement sanctions-related technology and regulatory changes.
- Contributed to IT modelling and filter optimization initiatives, including deduplication and enhancement of sanctions alert quality using advanced screening logic such as CBLS-ES, literal, lexical and RPM matching algorithms.
- Coordinated sanctions system migration and training initiatives, supporting transition from Temenos Vrisk to Fircosoft and ensuring operational readiness, user adoption and alignment with evolving sanctions compliance and regulatory requirements.
Software Professional (United Health Group)
Cognizant Technology Solutions
, UK
2006.02 - 2009.07
- Commenced professional career as a software developer supporting enterprise healthcare insurance applications for UnitedHealth Group (USA), contributing to the design, development, enhancement and maintenance of business-critical systems within a J2EE enterprise architecture.
- Progressed to take on team leadership responsibilities, supporting offshore delivery, stakeholder engagement and application lifecycle management in alignment with service level agreements and operational requirements.
- Developed and maintained enterprise applications using J2EE technologies, including HTML, Java Applets, JSP, Servlets and Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), supporting core insurance business processes and ensuring system stability and performance.
- Gathered and analyzed business and system requirements from US-based stakeholders, supporting application enhancements, strategic initiatives and system upgrades aligned with evolving business and operational needs.
- Provided technical analysis, effort estimation and implementation support for new development and enhancement initiatives, ensuring timely delivery in accordance with agreed service level agreements (SLAs).
- Supported full application lifecycle management, including development, testing, deployment and post-production support, ensuring seamless application functionality and minimal operational disruption.
- Progressed to lead a 10-member offshore development team, providing technical guidance, task allocation and delivery oversight, ensuring successful execution of development initiatives and alignment with project timelines.
- Collaborated closely with onsite and offshore stakeholders to resolve technical issues, implement system improvements and support continuous enhancement of enterprise application performance and reliability.
Education
MBA - Finance
Bradford University School of Management
UKB.Eng. - Electronics & Communication
Anna University
IndiaSkills
- Financial Crime Compliance
- Client Outreach
- AML
- Sanctions
- Anti-Bribery & Corruption
- KYC Lifecycle Management
- Client Due Diligence / Enhanced Due Diligence
- Stakeholder Management
- Change Management
- Technology Integration
- Relationship Management
- Project Management
Core Competencies
- Over 10 years of Financial Crime Compliance and Client Outreach experience across Global CIB, Insurance and Brokerage sectors, specializing in AML, Sanctions, Anti-Bribery & Corruption and end-to-end KYC lifecycle management, including onboarding, periodic refresh and event-driven reviews.
- Led Client Outreach initiatives supporting Financial Institution portfolios, managing end-to-end client engagement across CDD and ECDD processes, ensuring timely and accurate completion of KYC documentation while enhancing client experience and simplifying complex regulatory requirements.
- Operated within the 1LoD, partnering closely with Global Financial Crime (GFC), AML Advisory, Sanctions, ECDD, Front Office, Relationship Managers, Sales and Operations to ensure adherence to internal control frameworks, governance routines and global regulatory expectations.
- Supported governance and operational oversight through capacity planning, workflow prioritization, escalation management and accurate reporting across regulatory restriction, remediation and account closure cycles, ensuring timely regulatory compliance and risk mitigation.
- Delivered structured risk presentations and management updates to senior bankers and stakeholders, articulating AML, Sanctions and financial crime risks, regulatory exposure and mitigation strategies.
- Conducted Name Screening and Payment Screening in accordance with global sanctions regulations, including OFSI, OFAC, EU and other international sanctions regimes and acted as Sanctions Advisor reviewing and approving business referrals in line with Sanctions and Export Controls policies.
- Demonstrated strong working knowledge of AML Due Diligence, sanctions screening and case management systems, including Temenos (Vrisk), LexisNexis, BAE Systems NetReveal, Fircosoft, Dow Jones Factiva and Fenargo, supporting effective client risk assessment and regulatory compliance.
- Possess strong regulatory knowledge of global AML and Financial Crime frameworks, including FCA SYSC, EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives (4AMLD and 5AMLD), JMLSG Guidance, Wolfsberg Principles, FATF Recommendations, as well as Anti-Bribery & Corruption regulations including the UK Bribery Act and SAPIN II.
- Experienced in interpreting and applying AML, Sanctions and Financial Crime policies and in preparing Business Requirements Document (BRD), Functional Specifications, Systems Design Specifications and Requirement Traceability Matrices (RTMs), supporting regulatory change implementation and operational process enhancements.
- Provided team leadership, mentoring and training on AML, KYC and Sanctions policies and procedures and recognized by clients, business stakeholders and operational partners for improving KYC outreach effectiveness, strengthening control environments and enhancing regulatory delivery and client engagement outcomes.
Certification
- Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (ACAMS-CGSS)
- Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS-AML)
- Combating Financial Crime (CISI Level 3 Award in Combating Financial Crime)
- Certified International Payment Systems Professional (CIPSP)
- Sun Certified Programmer and Web Component Developer (JAVA Programming)
Other Experiences
- Barking Learning Centre, IT Volunteer, 2014-01-01, 2019-10-31, UK
- Global Giving, Due Diligence Analyst as Volunteer, 2015-06-01, 2015-10-31, UK
- Barnardo's Retail Charity Shop, Volunteer, 2014-01-01, 2015-01-31, UK
Timeline
VP - Client Outreach Specialist
Bank of America
2022.10 - Current
Due Diligence Officer (AML/KYC) Contractor
BNP Paribas
2019.11 - 2022.04
Sanctions Advisor (Contractor)
Willis Tower Watson
2019.08 - 2019.10
Financial Crime Analyst (Contractor)
AXA
2018.06 - 2019.04
Business Analyst Sanctions IT (Contractor)
Barclays
2015.10 - 2018.05
Software Professional (United Health Group)
Cognizant Technology Solutions
2006.02 - 2009.07
B.Eng. - Electronics & Communication
Anna University
MBA - Finance
Bradford University School of Management