Head of Financial Crime Prevention

Job purpose

Responsible for the effective application, oversight, and continuous improvement of the Bank's financial crime controls, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements (including SMF 24 and MLRO responsibilities), and supporting the COO office's strategic objectives. This role standardises naming conventions, clarifies responsibilities, and affirms current practices while introducing additional duties to stretch and develop the function. The Head of Financial Crime Prevention acts as a key escalation point and leader within the first line of defence (1LoD), supporting regulatory engagement and Board-level reporting.

Key responsibilities

Financial Crime controls & quality assurance

·       Lead, coach, and develop a team of financial crime analysts.

·       Allocate workload and prioritise tasks across onboarding, monitoring, and review processes.

·       Act as an escalation point for complex or high-risk cases.

·       Maintain and evaluate QA frameworks to ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness of financial crime assessments.

·       Oversee and perform QA reviews of:

o  Client Due Diligence (CDD) and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) during onboarding.

o  Ongoing transaction monitoring.

o  Periodic and trigger event reviews of existing client relationships.

o  Sanctions screening.

·       Track and report on QA findings, identifying trends, training needs, and potential control weaknesses.

·       Identify knowledge or performance gaps and deliver targeted training to address QA findings.

·       Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance control effectiveness and operational efficiency.

·       Ensure all first-line activities are aligned with the Bank's financial crime framework (AML, CTF, sanctions, anti-bribery & corruption, and fraud).

·       Embed existing controls within 1LoD Financial Crime.

Desired future contributions

·       Analyse and deliver detailed MI reports to senior leadership and risk committees, covering horizon scanning, key areas for improvement, and team expansion opportunities.

·       Continuously seek to improve 1LoD processes for greater efficiency while maintaining robust financial crime controls.

·       Collaborate with banking stakeholders to develop structured training programmes for new and existing team members.

·       Facilitate regular, case study-based training sessions to enhance investigative and analytical capabilities across relevant teams.

·       Raise awareness of emerging threats and trends through targeted communications and training.

·       Drive continuous process improvement initiatives by leveraging automation, data analytics, and advanced technologies.

Strategic responsibilities

·       Oversee and run specialised FCP projects.

·       Prepare and deliver executive and Board presentations.

·       Act as a COO ambassador, demonstrating outstanding interpersonal skills.

·       Deliver against strategic objectives and maintain complete accountability for 1LoD Financial Crime, including audit and regulatory engagement.

·       Lead quality assurance for the Financial Crime Prevention Framework.

. Develop & implement transactional analysis tooling.

Regulatory & Board engagement

·       Ensure clarity and documentation of SMF 24 responsibilities, supporting the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR).

·       Support the MLRO and act as a key point of contact for regulatory engagement on financial crime matters.

·      Lead the preparation and delivery of first-line financial crime reports for senior management, governance committees, and Board-level stakeholders, ensuring MI is accurate, timely, and actionable.

Required skills & experience

·       Proven leadership in financial crime risk management, ideally within a regulated UK financial institution.

·       Deep understanding of AML, CTF, sanctions, anti-bribery & corruption, and fraud frameworks.

·       Experience with SM&CR, Board reporting, and regulatory engagement.

·       Strong analytical, communication and interpersonal skills.

·       Experience in process improvement, automation, and data analytics is highly desirable.

About us

At Hampden Bank, we provide private banking as it should be: approachable, accessible expertise delivered through loyal, long-lasting client relationships. Personalised service is at the core of our business, with a culture that is built on relationships. We take the time to get to know our clients to help them achieve their aspirations.

Why join us

As a growing and ambitious company, we seek people to join our team who share our values; Proud Ownership, Absolute Integrity, Total Inclusivity, Winning Teamwork and Purposeful Growth.

We are committed to an inclusive culture where everyone is comfortable to be their authentic self. We recognise, value and respect diverse cultures, knowledge, and identities. We work together to ensure collaboration, development, and success for everyone, supporting them to thrive and reach their potential.

We offer exciting career opportunities through professional and personal development and have an extensive range of benefits you can enjoy.

To apply

Please submit your CV by the closing date. Please remember, on occasion we do receive more applications than expected we may bring the closing date forward, so please do apply promptly.

If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the People Team and we will endeavour assist you.

If you are excited about this opportunity and think you can bring value to the role and Hampden Bank, but your experience does not align perfectly with every aspect of what we are looking for, we would be happy to hear from you.

If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about the role, please contact the People Team and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Hybrid working / flexible working

We support hybrid working and our policy is that colleagues spend at least 60% of their working week in the office to connect and collaborate with their colleagues.

We are open to considering requests from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you are looking for, and we will explore what is possible for the role. We cannot promise to meet every request, but we will not judge you for asking.