Waseem Ismail

Managing multiple workstreams. Reviewing cases referred from the front office or analysts that presented risk factors requiring assessment.

Key Responsibilities:

Holistic Case Review – Analysed client profiles and requested products to identify high-risk factors, ensuring alignment with the Bank's Risk Appetite. Coordinated with the 2nd Line for insights, resulting in either approval with a risk rating or onboarding rejection.

Risk Mitigation - Assessed and applied risk mitigants to support onboarding decisions, ensuring alignment with risk appetite and providing necessary assurance for client approvals.

Collaboration & Communication - working with other areas of the business to improve efficiency of the review.

Workload & Priority Management – Adopted an agile approach, effectively balancing multiple workstreams and adjusting priorities as needed to meet deadlines. Enhanced efficiency through proactive personal workflow management.

Achievements:

• Developed Templates for Enhanced Consistency – Created standardized templates that were incorporated into the official process, resulting in improved consistency and efficiency across reviews.
• Proactively Upskilled – Sought opportunities to expand expertise by actively requesting involvement in new workstreams, demonstrating commitment to continuous learning and adaptability.
• Identification of Material Risk Factors – Identified significant risk factors that may have breached sanctions policy, ensuring compliance and facilitating timely corrective actions.

Responsibilities:

• Conducting thorough due diligence on New to Bank (NTB) and existing clients to ensure compliance with regulatory and internal policies.
• Analysing and verifying customer ID documents, financial statements and transactional activity to detect and mitigate potential financial crime risks.
• Resolving customer information discrepancies by collaborating with front office to minimize customer outreach, enhancing the onboarding experience.
• Demonstrating agility in integrating policy updates seamlessly into my daily workflow.
• Working on additional projects with the Risk Triage team
• Managing my own workflow by working on multiple files simultaneously.

Achievements:

• Efficient File Processing: Developed a system for accurate and efficient file handling.
• Critical Approvals: Successfully managed time-sensitive, high-value onboardings for the bank on multiple occasions.
• Risk Identification: Proactively escalated financial crime concerns.
• Workload management: Consistently met deadlines despite a high volume of work.
• Collaboration: Assisted the team with queries and maintained a positive work environment.

Promoted to Associate Level, which formalized many of the additional responsibilities I had taken on as Senior Analyst:

• Delivering training and serving as a knowledgeable resource / champion for newly hired team members.
• Operating as a key contact and subject matter expert (SME) for the sales/deal team, offering guidance on client requirements in accordance with their risk profile.
• Reviewed and updated bank policies to ensure compliance with group KYC policy, as well as relevant guidelines from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other influencing bodies.

Worked along side the Assistant Vice President in a critical project in response to a regulatory requirement from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which prohibited the bank from onboarding specific high-risk clients. Conducted extensive due diligence on these clients and presented the clients to the executive management team, including the CEO, for approval.

Roles, Responsibilities and Achievements:

• Enhanced business partnerships with relationship managers (RM) to understand clients and risks, creating cheat sheets for RM's that reduced multiple client outreach by 30%.
• Maintained expertise in investment and corporate banking products to assess their associated risks.
• Performed Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for all parties involved, including complex structures such as Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), funds, and trusts. Utilized various screening tools to identify potential adverse media and sanctions risks.
• Enhanced workflow organization by creating an MI tracker that also generated reports, effectively communicating progress updates during stakeholder calls that I led.
• Proactively identified and addressed process gaps, preventing potential regulatory breaches and safeguarding the bank from issues that would require FCA reporting.

• Leveraged my expertise in KYC, ownership structures, and high-risk factors to assist SME in creating materials demonstrating KYC requirements and identifying high-risk factors for various entities.
• Differentiating when Enhanced Due Diligence must apply and the additional diligence that is required.
• Ability to determine when cases need to be escalated to second line of defence.
• Demonstrate good team working skills and the ability to work efficiently and accurately under pressure
• Developed creative ways to work efficiently as possible
• Consistently working to a high standard to ensure cases pass mandatory QC check.