Financial Crime Officer – UAE

About the role

We are seeking a Financial Crime Officer (or Senior Officer) to join our compliance team in the United Arab Emirates. The role focuses on sanctions screening, AML investigations and ensuring compliance with local and international regulations.

Key responsibilities

• Maintain up‑to‑date knowledge of international and national sanctioning bodies.
• Operate sanctions screening systems, review alerts and assess underlying sanctions risk.
• Update KYC/KYB records and prepare quarterly reports for Head Office.
• Analyze AML tool alerts, considering frequency, customer profile and account behavior.
• Investigate unusual transactions and trigger‑based events.
• Prepare and raise Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) for senior approval.
• Advise Business Line and Operations on payments filtering and client/transaction screening.
• Conduct Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for high‑risk relationships and approve onboarding or updates.
• Identify and assess internal/external processes exposed to sanctions risk, especially in payments and trade finance.
• Respond to information requests from correspondent banks and regulators.
• Keep local sanction lists current and support periodic reporting to regulators, auditors and Head Office.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in commerce, business administration or related field.
• Minimum 1‑3 years banking experience for Officer role or 3‑5 years for Senior Officer, including at least 2 years in a compliance department.
• Strong knowledge of banking operations and sanctions compliance.

Required skills

• High attention to detail.
• Strong risk assessment capability.
• Effective communication.
• Flexibility and adaptability to change.
• Analytical and critical problem‑solving abilities.