Global Financial Crimes Manager – Risk Appetite

Job Description:

Job Title: Global Financial Crimes Manager – Risk Appetite

Corporate Title:  Vice President

Location: Chester

At Bank of America, we are guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better through the power of every connection. We do this by driving Responsible Growth and delivering for our clients, teammates, communities and shareholders every day.

Being a Great Place to Work is core to how we drive Responsible Growth. This includes our commitment to being an inclusive workplace, attracting and developing exceptional talent, supporting our teammates’ physical, emotional, and financial wellness, recognizing and rewarding performance, and how we make an impact in the communities we serve.

Bank of America is committed to an in-office culture with specific requirements for office-based attendance and which allows for an appropriate level of flexibility for our teammates and businesses based on role-specific considerations.

At Bank of America, you can build a successful career with opportunities to learn, grow, and make an impact. Join us!

Location Overview:

Find us in the city of Chester, a destination renowned for its culture, history, and beauty. Working at Bank of America Chester offers a far-reaching global career for a world-renowned organisation, whilst being ideally situated against the backdrop of the rolling North Wales hills and the banks of the serene River Dee.

Role Description:

This job is responsible for executing substantive money laundering, economic sanctions and fraud compliance and operational risk practices. Key responsibilities include working directly or through compliance officers for the Front Line Units (FLUs) and Control Functions (CFs) to complete compliance, policy, operational/fraud risk management requirements.

The Risk Appetite Manager is responsible for the oversight, evaluation, interpretation, and escalation of Financial Crime Investigation (FCI) Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). You will provide visibility of financial crime exposure, emerging risks, and thematic trends across jurisdictions, legal entities, business lines, and customer segments.

You will define, maintain, and execute the Financial Crime Risk Appetite framework for investigations activity, ensuring that key indicators, thresholds, and escalation triggers are appropriately monitored and governed. They will deliver insightful evaluation of SAR data and investigations intelligence to identify material risks, inform strategic strategy-making, and facilitate timely escalation of significant financial crime concerns.

Responsibilities:

• Advises and directs the development and maintenance of financial crimes owned policies and standards, and reviews relevant Front Line Units/Control Functions-owned policies and standards to ensure that regulatory requirements and operational risks are appropriately addressed.
• Produces and/or oversees distinct financial crimes risk management reporting to Global Compliance & Operational Risk (GC&OR) Senior Stakeholders and FLU/CF Senior Stakeholders.
• Identify, assess, and monitor emerging risks within financial crimes investigations.
• Escalate financial crimes-related compliance and operational risks to appropriate governance bodies.
• Conduct end-to-end process analysis to uncover inefficiencies and recommend improvements that enhance investigative outcomes.
• Develop and implement risk-based internal controls to prevent, detect, and report financial crimes.
• Define tolerances, thresholds, and escalation triggers relating to SAR activity and investigations outcomes.
• Monitor adherence to approved risk appetite statements across all relevant jurisdictions and legal entities.
• Prepare and present risk appetite reporting for senior management and governance committees.
• Investigate and influence stakeholders regarding financial crime risk exposure and mitigation actions.
• Support regulatory examinations, internal audits, and independent reviews.
• Act as SME on financial crime investigations risk and SAR-related intelligence.
• Produce high-quality management information (MI), dashboards, and executive reporting.
• Translate multi-layered investigations data into concise and actionable insight.
• Develop forward-looking evaluation to support strategic risk management and resource. 

What we are looking for:

• Considerable experience within Financial Crimes, AML Investigations, Compliance, Operational Risk, Audit or Regulatory Management.
• ACAMS, ICA, or equivalent financial crime certification.
• Able to partner effectively within the team and across the organization to deliver needed results.
• Ability to organise multiple tasks and stakeholders at once, prioritize workflow and deliver results under time constraints.
• Extensive organizational skills with a keen ability to prioritize daily tasks with project work as well as ad hoc requests.
• Extensive verbal and written communication and presentation skills,  including the ability to effectively convey multi-facated information to stakeholders.
• Ample analytical skills.
• Ability to work calmly within tight deadlines and escalate appropriately.
• Able to develop and maintain good working relationships.
• Self-starter, motivated and reliable; ability to work well and seamlessly within a team without a continuous high level of guidance.
• Experience/knowledge of Global Compliance and Operational Risk and/or Global Financial Crime risk management programs.

Key Skills:

• Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
• Financial Crime Investigations
• Financial Crime Risks
• Regulatory Compliance
• Risk Assessment
• Stakeholder Management
• Written Communication
• Governance
• Trend Analysis
• Policy and Standards Adherence
• Issue Management
• Analytical Thinking
• Time Management

Benefits of working at Bank of America: UK

• At Bank of America, we strive to prioritise employees’ health and wellbeing – it’s what makes us a Great Place to Work.
• Private healthcare for you and your family plus an annual health screen to help you manage your physical wellness with the option to purchase a screen for your partner
• Competitive pension plan, life assurance and group income protection cover if you become unable to work as a result of a disability or health reasons
• We offer 26-weeks paid maternity leave, 16-weeks paid paternity leave and inclusive family leave arrangements for working parents and carers including 20 days of back-up childcare including access to school holiday clubs and 20 days of back-up adult care per annum 
• The ability to change your core benefits as well as the option of selecting a variety of flexible benefits to suit your personal circumstances including access to a wellbeing account, travel insurance, critical illness, cycle to work etc.
• Use of a flex fund to use towards benefits
• Access to an emotional wellbeing helpline, and virtual GP services
• Access to the Peppy App which provides 1:1 support, consultations and resources relating to men’s health, women’s health, fertility, menopause and pregnancy & parenthood
• Access to a range of gyms, exercise classes and wellbeing Apps through Wellhub, including Headspace and Calm
• Ability to donate to charities of your choice directly through payroll and the bank will match your contribution
• Opportunity to give back to your community, develop new skills and work with new groups of people by volunteering in your local area

Bank of America:

Good conduct and sound judgment is crucial to our long term success. It’s important that all employees in the organisation understand the expected standards of conduct and how we manage conduct risk. Individual accountability and an ownership mind-set are the cornerstones of our Code of Conduct and are at the heart of managing risk well.

“We are an equal opportunities employer and ensure that no applicant is subject to less favourable treatment on the grounds of sex, gender identity or gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, race, religious or similar philosophical belief, political opinion, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, socio-economic background, responsibility for dependants or physical or mental disability. The Bank selects candidates for interview based on their skills, qualifications and experience.”

We strive to ensure that our recruitment processes are accessible for all candidates and encourage any candidates to tell us about any adjustment requirements.