1. Role PurposeThe role holder is responsible for supporting governance of the Bank's Financial Crime Compliance function. The role ensures that the Bank's AML/CFT, sanctions and anti-bribery frameworks remain aligned to CBUAE regulatory requirements, that regulatory obligations are tracked and discharged on time, and that senior management, the Board and the regulator receive accurate, timely and decision-useful reporting on financial crime risk. The role owns the Financial Crime Risk Assessment (FCRA), the FCC policy and procedure suite, the FCC training programme and the management information that underpins FCC governance.
2. Key Responsibilities2.1 FCC Governance Framework• Maintain and enhance the FCC governance framework, including committee terms of reference, escalation protocols, delegated authorities and the three-lines-of-defense operating model for financial crime.
• Act as coordinator for FCC-related committees and working groups; prepare agendas, papers and minutes, and track actions through to closure.
• Maintain the FCC regulatory obligations register and control inventory, ensuring each obligation and control has a documented owner, evidence standard and review cycle.
• Ensure the FCC framework remains compliant with CBUAE AML/CFT regulations, guidance and examination expectations.
2.2 Management & Regulatory Reporting• Prepare periodic FCC reporting for senior management, the Board and Board committees, including the annual MLRO report and quarterly financial crime risk dashboards.
• Own the preparation, quality review and submission of regulatory submissions and ad hoc information requests to CBUAE, ensuring accuracy, completeness and timeliness.
• Coordinate the Bank's response to CBUAE inspections, thematic reviews and examination requests, including document collation, walkthroughs and management responses.
• Maintain a log of regulatory correspondence, commitments and undertakings, and monitor delivery against agreed timelines.
2.3 Regulatory Gap Assessments• Monitor UAE and international regulatory developments and assess their impact on the Bank.
• Lead structured gap assessments of existing policies, procedures and controls against new or amended requirements, documenting findings and remediation plans to a regulator-auditable standard.
• Track remediation of gaps, internal audit findings, external assessment findings and regulatory observations through to evidenced closure.
2.4 Financial Crime Risk Assessment (FCRA)• Own the FCRA methodology and lead the annual enterprise-wide risk assessment covering inherent risk, control effectiveness and residual risk across business lines, products, customers, geographies and delivery channels.
• Coordinate data collection and challenge sessions with business and control functions, ensuring assessments are evidence-based and consistently applied.
• Align FCRA outputs with the Bank's risk appetite statement and tolerance thresholds, and translate results into control prioritization, resourcing and remediation decisions.
• Present FCRA results and residual-risk conclusions to senior management and the Board.
2.5 Policies & Procedures• Own the FCC policy and procedure suite, including the annual review cycle, version control, impact assessment of changes and approval workflow.
• Ensure procedures are consistent with policy, regulation and actual operating practice across KYC/CDD, customer risk rating, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening and STR reporting.
• Coordinate with business and operations to embed policy changes and confirm implementation through post-implementation checks.
2.6 Training & Awareness• Design and deliver the annual FCC training plan, including role-based training for high-risk functions, Board and senior management briefings and new-joiner induction.
• Maintain training content in line with regulatory change, emerging typologies and lessons learned from internal cases and regulatory feedback.
• Track completion rates, assess training effectiveness and report results to management and relevant committees.
2.7 Management Information & Governance Coordination• Develop and maintain FCC management information, including KPIs and KRIs covering alert volumes and backlogs, STR metrics, screening performance, KYC review status, quality assurance results and overdue actions.
• Ensure MI is accurate, reconciled to source and presented consistently across management, committee and regulatory reporting.
• Coordinate across Compliance, Business, Operations, Internal Audit, Risk and Technology to maintain a single, consistent view of financial crime risk and governance status.
• Support internal audit reviews and external assessments relating to FCC governance and manage the associated findings.
3. Qualifications & Experience• Bachelor's degree in finance, law, business or a related discipline; AML, compliance or risk qualification preferred (CAMS, ICA Diploma in AML or Governance, Risk and Compliance, CGSS or equivalent).
• 7–10 years of experience in financial crime compliance within banking or financial services, with demonstrated exposure to governance, regulatory reporting and enterprise-wide risk assessment.
• Strong working knowledge of UAE AML/CFT legislation, CBUAE standards and guidance, UAE sanctions obligations and FATF recommendations.
• Experience preparing Board and committee papers, MLRO reports and regulatory submissions, and supporting regulatory examinations.
• Experience leading or materially contributing to an enterprise-wide financial crime risk assessment and a policy and procedure review programme.
• Strong documentation discipline, able to produce governance packs, methodology papers and regulator-facing responses to an audit-ready standard.
• Arabic language skills are an advantage.
4. Key Competencies• Structured, precise written communication suitable for Board and regulator audiences.
• Analytical and data skills; comfortable building, interpreting and challenging management information.
• Project and stakeholder management across multiple concurrent workstreams and functions.
• Sound judgement, attention to detail and the ability to challenge constructively.
• Control-ownership mindset with a strong sense of accountability for regulatory deadlines.
