Vengateshwaran M

Team Leadership & Management

• Manage a team of 11 AML and fraud investigators, overseeing workload distribution, performance tracking, and professional development.
• Provide mentorship and coaching to ensure high standards of investigation quality, consistency, and compliance.

Investigation Oversight

• Supervise the end-to-end lifecycle of AML and fraud investigations, including alert review, case escalation and documentation.
• Ensure timely and accurate completion of alert adjudication generated by GSNA and dispositioned in UCM in accordance with regulatory timelines.
• Approve or quality-check investigations involving complex or high-risk cases.

Compliance & Regulatory Adherence

• Ensure the team operates within applicable regulatory frameworks (e.g., FATF, OFAC, EU AML Directives, FinCEN).
• Stay up-to-date on changes in laws, regulations, and industry best practices related to AML and fraud.

Process & Policy Management

• Support the development and refinement of internal AML/fraud investigation policies and standard operating procedures.
• Identify gaps in current processes and lead initiatives to improve investigative efficiency and effectiveness.

Training & Knowledge Development

• Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and lead training for new joiners and existing staff on investigative techniques, systems, and regulatory requirements.
• Organize refresher sessions and knowledge-sharing forums to promote investigative excellence and awareness of emerging fraud typologies.

Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting

• Serve as the primary liaison between the AML/Fraud Investigations team and key internal stakeholders, including BFCR, LOB and Senior Management.
• Deliver periodic and ad hoc reports on AML and fraud trends, investigation metrics, and key risk indicators to senior leadership and governance forums.
• Provide regular updates on investigation backlogs, team performance, regulatory deadlines, and escalated cases.

Audit & Quality Assurance

• Ensure Case investigation meets internal and external audit standards.
• Facilitate audit readiness and remediate findings through process changes or additional training as needed.

Investigation & Case Management

• Conduct thorough investigations of alerts generated on SOI (Subject of Interest) by GSNA related to trade finance transactions (e.g., Letters of Credit, Documentary Collections, Supply Chain Finance, Receivable Finance, Pre-Shipment and post Shipment Trade Loans).
• Analyze trade documents, transaction patterns, and customer behavior across multiple jurisdictions to detect potential money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, and fraud.
• Review and resolve AML alerts generated from GSNA with a focus on cross-border trade transactions and high-risk geographies.

Advanced Transaction Monitoring:

· Monitored customer activities to detect unusual or anomalous behaviours, utilizing counterparty relationships and transaction patterns.

· Reviewed compliance with KYC/CDD protocols and conducted thorough investigations into risks using internal bank systems, public domain information, and other intelligence sources to assess the commercial viability and authenticity of transactions.

Intelligence Gathering & Risk Assessment:

· Responsible for gathering intelligence from negative news databases, media reports, and other credible sources to identify customers potentially involved in financial crime.

· Conducted detailed analyses of high-risk customer relationships and transactions, validating risk factors, and ensuring accurate escalation.

Cross-Market AML Surveillance

• Monitor transactions involving clients in 36 global markets, identifying unusual trade flows, shell companies, dual-use goods, or over/under-invoicing schemes.
• Leverage knowledge of market-specific AML typologies and geopolitical risks to assess red flags effectively.
• Liaise with RM and GTT to ensure a coordinated and consistent investigative approach.

Fraud Risk Management

• Investigate trade finance-related fraud, including document forgery, collusion, invoice fraud, and misrepresentation of goods.
• Conducted proactive and reactive investigations into trade finance-related fraud, including forged trade documents, invoice manipulation, fictitious shipments, and collusion between buyers and sellers with enhance review of information available in CARM.

Reporting & Escalation

• Prepare and submit ACN (Analyst Case Narrative) in accordance with local regulatory requirements and internal timelines.
• Escalate high-risk cases or confirmed fraudulent activity to GTT with detailed risk assessments.

Quality Assurance & Change Management:

· Effectively planned, coordinated, and met deadlines for various operational tasks, including handling queries, escalations, and ensuring quality control.

· Prioritized tasks and implemented changes smoothly, while maintaining high standards in anomaly detection and reporting.

• Scrutinizing Import and Export DC documents and quoting discrepancies.
• Processing end to end from checking to making payments including discounting Usance bills for DC transactions.
• Liaison with stake holders, mentoring new joiners, Monitoring work queues and mail box, Driving the team to achieve process accuracy and SLA.
• Addressing training and process change requirements.
• Ensure adherence to AML/Sanctions procedures, Create Onboarding Module for the team, Periodic Submission of MIS and deliverables, Keeping the unit ready for audit at any point of time.
• Also responsible for checking documents with 100% AML and Sanction free transactions with additional checking like Sea Searcher Checks and IMB report.

• Ensuring smooth processing of Current account and Trade customers request for the entire cluster (includes 7 branches).
• A substantial hands-on exposure to all types of trade finance products, encompassing that detailed hereafter; Export/Import Documentary Credits -- Document Scrutiny, Issuance of Import DC’s, Export DC Transfer.
• Export/Import Collections including Export Advances received.
• Export/Import Remittances inclusive of Interbank Transfers vide SWIFT/RTGS & Import Advance Payments.
• Export/Import Financing.
• Forfaiting, Forward Contracts, Bank Realization Certificates & Regulatory Returns.
• FDI and FCGPR filing.
• ODI and APR filing.
• Limit setting and issuance of temporary OD for Current Account clients.
• CMS (Cash Management facility) for Current Account clients.
• Onboarding current account customers.