Annual AML, Sanctions & KYC Refresher
Most suspicious activity is first seen by someone who does not work in compliance. The annual refresher exists so that the teller, the relationship manager and the payments clerk recognise it in their own work — and say so the same day.
Format
In-house · Classroom or live virtual
How it runs
In-house only — run for one institution, in its own city or online, and quoted per programme.
The programme
Annual AML, Sanctions & KYC Refresher is a one-day annual refresher run in-house for one institution, for all staff, with role-based examples for front, middle and back office. It covers money-laundering and terrorist-financing red flags, sanctions screening and KYC, and how to escalate a concern promptly. The FATF Recommendations expect financial institutions to run an ongoing employee training programme as part of their internal controls, and this AML awareness training is designed to support that programme, with each year’s session refreshed for what has changed. Participants interpret customer due diligence at onboarding and over the relationship, test sanctions alerts against what they really show, and judge when an unusual transaction becomes a suspicion worth reporting. Each module uses short case studies from the participant’s own kind of role. As sanctions training for staff and a KYC refresher course in one, it is quoted per programme and scoped on request. Delivered in-house in English and French, in the classroom or live online, across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.
What you will do
Who attends
- All staff of one institution, taken together or in role-based groups
- Front office: tellers, branch staff, relationship managers, call-centre and digital-channel teams
- Middle office: credit, trade finance, treasury and operations control staff who review transactions and customers
- Back office: payments, onboarding, account opening and settlement teams
- Managers and new joiners who need the institution’s annual AML, sanctions and KYC training
- No prerequisites — examples are pitched to each role; specialists in financial crime are better served by the advanced AML & CTF Business Case Study
Programme agenda
One day, in the order a red flag travels — the morning on the customer and the sanctions screen, the afternoon on red flags by role and the escalation
I.Why this matters to every colleague
- Money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing in plain terms: how criminal money moves through a bank
- The FATF Recommendations behind the institution’s rules — customer due diligence, suspicious transaction reporting and internal controls that include ongoing staff training
- Personal responsibility: what the institution expects of each employee, and what is at stake for the individual and the bank
II.Know your customer: at onboarding and over the relationship
- Identifying and verifying the customer and the beneficial owner, and understanding the purpose of the relationship
- Higher-risk customers: politically exposed persons, complex ownership, cash-intensive businesses — when enhanced due diligence applies
- Ongoing due diligence: the triggers that mean a customer file is out of date
III.Sanctions: screening, alerts and evasion
- Targeted financial sanctions and why screening covers customers, owners, counterparties and payments
- Reading an alert: true matches, false positives, and the evidence needed to clear one
- Red flags of sanctions evasion — front companies, changed names, unusual routing and incomplete payment information
IV.Red flags by role: front, middle and back office
- Front office: cash, structuring, reluctant customers and stories that do not fit the profile
- Middle office: trade transactions, credit and collateral, and activity inconsistent with the customer’s business
- Back office: payments, payment-message information and account activity — including what the FATF’s revised payment transparency standard asks of payment messages
V.Escalating a concern
- From unusual to suspicious: the questions to ask before raising an internal report
- What a useful internal report contains, and what happens once the money laundering reporting officer receives it
- Tipping off: what must never be said to the customer, and how to keep serving them in the meantime
VI.Case studies and what changed this year
- Short case studies worked in role-based groups: spot the red flag, weigh the explanation, decide whether to escalate
- What has changed recently in the international standards, and where the institution’s own procedures set out how it applies them
- A closing check of understanding, and the points each participant takes back to their desk
Frequently asked
What is an annual AML refresher, and why do banks run one?
It is short, recurring training that keeps every employee able to recognise money-laundering, terrorist-financing and sanctions red flags and to escalate them. The FATF Recommendations expect financial institutions to maintain programmes against money laundering and terrorist financing whose internal controls include an ongoing employee training programme; many institutions meet that expectation with an annual refresher for all staff.
Which recent changes does the refresher cover?
Each session covers what has changed in the international standards since the previous one. One example: in June 2025 the FATF revised Recommendation 16 on payment transparency: it clarifies who in the payment chain is responsible for the information in payment messages, standardises the information that accompanies certain cross-border payments, and requires tools against fraud and error. The FATF says the changes come into effect by the end of 2030. The refresher explains what this means for staff who handle payments, alongside any changes in the institution’s own procedures.
How does it differ from the AML & CTF Business Case Study?
This is the annual refresher for all staff: one day, role-based, and focused on recognising and escalating red flags. The AML & CTF Business Case Study is an advanced, case-led programme for compliance and financial crime specialists who investigate and decide on those escalations.
What level is it, and are there prerequisites?
There are no prerequisites. It is pitched for staff at every level, from new joiners to senior managers, and the examples are chosen for front, middle and back office so that each group works on situations it will meet.
How is it delivered?
In-house only, for one institution, in the classroom or live virtual, in English or French. It runs as a custom programme, scoped on request, with role-based examples for front, middle and back office; staff can attend together or in role-based groups.
Is it quoted per bank, and do participants receive a certificate?
Yes. It is quoted per programme on enquiry. Each participant receives a BIZENIUS Banking Academy certificate of completion. The programme is practice-led and is not preparation for a third-party qualification. It supports, but does not replace, the institution’s own regulatory training obligations: the institution remains responsible for its own training programme and training records.
Who teaches this
Practitioners, not presenters.
Led by practitioners who hold, or have held, the seats this programme prepares you for: group treasurers and heads of asset–liability management, chief risk officers, heads of credit and capital management, and former central-bank supervisors who examined the very frameworks they now teach. Between cohorts the same people advise banks on those frameworks, so what you learn is what is being defended in front of boards and regulators today.
What the bench brings
- Risk-based AML/CFT programmes and systems
- KYC, client acceptance and sanctions screening
- Trade-based money laundering and fraud typologies
- MLRO responsibilities and senior accountability
- Independent AML audits and regulator inspections
- Certified AML specialist training
Where they have practised
Current and former practitioners — people who hold the seat today alongside those who have held it.
Sectors: Banking & financial services · Professional services · Central banking & supervision
Regions: Africa · the Middle East · Europe · Asia · the Americas
How they teach
- Live case studies from real institutions
- Worked exercises on realistic bank data
- Regulator-style challenge sessions
- Group problem-solving on realistic institutional cases
- Knowledge checks and a personal action plan
Cohorts are kept small so every exercise is worked on the participants’ own situations — in person or live virtual.
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