AML & Compliance Officer
I am qualified and certified to work as Anti-Money laundering Officer under the regulations of the FinMa (Switzerland) and BaFIN (Germany). Other jurisdictions should be possible upon request.
Why would you need an AML or Compliance Officer for your project?
The work of a money laundering officer is varied and responsible. Although in most cases the position of the money laundering officer is still filled internally, it can be observed that more and more obligated persons are shifting this activity to external money laundering officers for cost reasons.
The legislator has not regulated in all details what sort of training and qualifications the anti-money laundering officer must have. The only thing that is certain is that the money laundering officer must have the necessary expertise.
In general, it can be said that certified public accountants and fully qualified lawyers with appropriate qualifications that they have obtained through specialist training and further education or with professional experience in the field of combating money laundering and white-collar crime are considered to be knowledgeable. I have gained the relevant experience through various positions in relevant projects and external trainings over many years.
If an employee is entrusted with the task of the anti-money laundering officer without these qualifications, he must be usually sent for (costly) additional training measures.
Companies are often of the opinion that executives are best suited as anti-money laundering officers, since they are best familiar with the internal processes within the company. But in reality the management should and must primarily focus on sales targets which is usually a massive conflict of interest that is seen as such by the regulatory authorities.
In addition, this is even more true since managing directors will rarely have the time to fulfill all of the duties of the money laundering officer.
Therefore I can help you with a clear and transparent separation of functions, that also corresponds to the legal model, since the money laundering officer should not be part of the management (or the company), but rather “immediately subordinate” to it.
Even in small companies where the this separation usually makes sense and is even more cost efficient than wasting valuable management time on these tasks.
The same requirements for qualifications and positions in the company also apply to the deputy of the anti-money laundering officer.
External money laundering officer
The obliged companies should therefore consider delegating the tasks of the anti-money laundering officer to an external third party. Especially in companies where only the management or board of directors can be considered as money laundering officers, it makes sense to appoint an external money laundering officer and be it simply to avoid more critical audits and avoid any potential conflict of interest upfront.
Internal money laundering officers are only hired as trained experts in banks and other financial institutions in order to then devote themselves to this task full-time. Usually, an internal representative first has to familiarize himself with the complex matter of money laundering prevention in order to develop the necessary expertise.
On the one hand, he cannot provide full advice over a considerable period of time and, on the other hand, he can only fulfill his actual tasks within the company to a limited extent. The company also has to cover the cost of continuing education.
In contrast, the external money laundering officer has been a specialist from the start. If necessary, his advisory services can be called up flexibly, while the internal representative may have to neglect other tasks.
Not being involved in a company’s hierarchies and reporting processes underlines the independent position of the external consultant in the way its contacts are perceived.
External money laundering officers are particularly consultants and lawyers who have proven expertise in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Appointment of the external money laundering officer
The appointment of the external money laundering officer only needs to be notified to the responsible supervisory authority. In addition, the control options of the obliged company and the control options of the responsible authority must not be impaired.
When appointing the external money laundering officer, the exact requirements for the provision of services must be defined and documented. The agreement on the order must usually be submitted to the responsible supervisory authority. I can already help you with setting up these documents from the templates I can provide.
With the appointment, the external money laundering officer must be granted sufficient powers to perform his tasks. He must have full access to the relevant documents, have inspection and control rights and access to all relevant systems at all times. If necessary, a contact person should be named in the company who acts as the contact person for the external money laundering officer.und das
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