Fraud & Financial Crime Risk Lead

The Fraud & Financial Crime Risk Lead role develops strategies, implements controls, and leads teams to protect an organization from financial crime (AML/CFT/KYC, sanctions) and fraud, ensuring regulatory compliance, analyzing threats, enhancing processes, driving awareness and training staff, acting as a key liaison with business units and senior leadership as well as authorities and industry working groups. The role will provide strategic leadership across fraud prevention, detection, investigation, case management, governance and regulatory engagement, ensuring effective risk mitigation while supporting sustainable business growth and customer experience.  

Key Responsibilities

Policy and Framework:

• Maintain, update, develop relevant policies, frameworks and procedures related to fraud and financial crime.

• Assist in the development, review, and periodic enhancement of AML/CFT/CPF & TFS policies, procedures, and internal guidelines in line with BNM regulations and FATF recommendations.

Risk Strategy:

• Develop short-term and long-term strategies for end-to-end fraud and financial crime preventive controls, aligning with internal and external stakeholders. Continually balance risk & quality measures and processes against commercial outcomes and customer service for the company.

• Assess fraud and financial crime landscape within the financial services, and general environment

• Identify structural / strategic/ tactical methods to synchronise or optimise fraud and aml prevention, detection, monitoring, measurements related procedures.

• Act as a key risk advisor to business, product, and technology teams on fraud and financial crime risks.

Analytics and Advisory:

• Provide subject matter expertise and guidance to business units and senior management on financial crime risks and fraud risks and controls, especially concerning new products or services

• Perform analytics and rules review, optimization

• Develop and implement key parameters for risk prevention and detection processes which are suitable and effective while taking into consideration customer experience

• Lead/perform quality reviews on case management and investigations

• Provide strategic advice on prevention, detection, analysis and risk mitigation to staff, on operational, product design, customer service, from a regulatory as well as bank risk appetite perspective

• Contribute continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of AML controls and processes.

Investigations:

• Oversee investigations into suspicious activities, transaction monitoring alerts, and complex financial crime cases from fraud and AML/KYC/CFT.

• Ensure timely and coordinated responses to identified fraud or financial crime cases.

• Review fraud losses, dispute trends, and root-cause analysis to drive continuous improvement.

Regulatory Compliance:

• Ensure adherence to relevant regulations, sanctions screening, and any other reporting requirements by relevant authorities including Bank Negara Malaysia.

Risk Management Measurement and Monitoring:

• Develop and implement relevant measurements and metrics, assessment methodologies and monitoring tools

• Lead and conduct quality assurance on operations monitoring and investigation processes.

Team Leadership:

• Manage, coach, and develop a team of financial crime risk management and fraud risk professionals, driving performance and operational efficiency.

• Partner closely with Technology, Product, Operations, Compliance, and Risk teams to embed fraud controls into customer journeys and system designs.

Stakeholder Collaboration:

• Main liaison with BNM on fraud risk, AML related matters, with support from CRO.

• Work with relevant departments (e.g. Product teams, Operations, Fraud Ops, AML/CFT team, Regulatory Compliance) to drive improvements in fraud prevention and detection, monitoring and controls.

• Actively participate in industry forums and task forces to improve fraud and AML/CFT intelligence.

• Coordinate collaboration with law enforcement agencies and industry bodies (i.e. NSRC, CCID, IBTF) for intelligence sharing and other stakeholders to combat fraud and financial crimes.

Technology & Data:

• Work with IT to implement systems where required, optimize alert systems, algorithms, and data analysis for detection.

Training & Awareness:  

• Develop tailored training and awareness programs for the company and customers to improve risk awareness, with timely updates on particularly latest fraud modus operandi or industry developments

Reporting:

• Prepare and present reports to senior management and regulators.

• Monitor fraud risk to be within the risk appetite

• Submit fraud event reports to BNM per internal and Operational Risk Reporting (ORR) requirements, and AML CFT/TM reporting requirements to BNM

Requirement:

• Minimum 15 years of working experience covering the banking industry/digital financial services/mobile banking fraud investigation and surveillance, Fraud risk or AML risk and financial crime investigation/detection/analysis/policy making roles. Candidates with both experience is preferred.

• Has sound knowledge of the relevant BNM guidelines governing the banking business in fraud risk, AMLCFT requirements, and is comfortable and experienced in dealing with regulators and law enforcement organisations.

• Has experience and knowledge of how to identify and analyze sources of fraud and ML, its related risks, use different approaches and tools to measure and manage the risk.

• Able to perform in fast-paced environment with quick analytical thinking, has strong sense of urgency, meticulous, inquisitive, very keen to share knowledge, and passionate about process improvement.

• Confident decision maker, capable of making risk decisions on suspicious transactions, PEPs, high fraud risk transactions.

• Experience in conducting relevant risk assessments and ability to communicate effectively with 1LOD teams, to ensure they understand the risks in their area.

• Strong understanding of key financial crime and fraud risk indicators and metrics and is able to develop them, summarise into reports which explain key trends on a monthly basis for senior management, and board.  

• Strong command of English, both written and spoken.

• Have strong networking experience with the banking industry, e-wallet/e-commerce, and other digital financial services/banking peers.

• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior and Board levels.

• Hands-on experience with fraud detection systems (Anti-Fraud & AML solutions) rule engines, and analytics.