Back to search

Senior Financial Crime Associate - Payments / Neo-Banking

City of London Temporary £225 - £250 per day View Job Description
A senior SME role responsible for leading complex KYC, EDD, and financial‑crime investigations within a high‑volume payments environment. The position focuses on safeguarding the payments ecosystem by identifying high‑risk merchants, monitoring rapid‑velocity transactions, and enhancing AML/fraud controls that support fast onboarding and scalable risk management.
  • Senior Financial Crime Associate - Payments, Crypto, Fintech
  • Generalist Financial Crime role within a fast paced 'fintech' environment

About Our Client

The organisation is a small-sized financial services firm, offering a range of services such as, Payments, Acquiring Crypto and Corp Banking services.

Job Description

  • Lead complex KYC and EDD investigations for individuals, SMEs, and higher‑risk payment merchants, validating business models, processing flows, and jurisdictional exposure.
  • Assess merchant acquiring and PSP‑specific risks, including chargeback exposure, flow‑of‑funds structures, high‑risk sector activity, and transaction‑velocity patterns.
  • Perform advanced onboarding risk assessments, providing expert recommendations on merchant approval, decline, or enhanced control measures.
  • Manage and quality‑review high‑volume transaction‑monitoring queues, analysing 100+ alerts daily across multiple payment channels (card, bank transfers, open banking).
  • Investigate complex transactional behaviour, such as layering, structuring, rapid throughput, or third‑party payment activity, preventing fraud and money‑laundering misuse.
  • Conduct sanctions, PEP, and adverse‑media screening on merchants, UBOs, and key controllers, ensuring accurate risk classification for multi‑jurisdiction payment flows.
  • Draft precise RFIs tailored to payment‑sector risk, including clarifying processing volumes, payment flows, business model legitimacy, and operational processes.
  • Prepare clear, well‑rationalised SARs relating to payment fraud, mule‑account activity, high‑risk sectors, unusual volume spikes, and suspected ML patterns.
  • Collaborate with the MLRO, Product, and Risk teams to enhance payment‑specific controls such as velocity rulesets, KYB workflows, and merchant‑monitoring triggers.
  • Act as an escalation point for complex merchant and transaction‑based investigations, supporting junior analysts and operational teams.



The Successful Applicant

  • Deep expertise in KYC, KYB, and EDD for payment merchants, including assessing higher‑risk sectors, flow‑of‑funds structures, and transaction‑velocity patterns.
  • Hands‑on experience with transaction‑monitoring tools, sanctions/PEP screening systems, and rule‑based monitoring specific to card payments, bank transfers, and fintech payment rails.
  • Ability to draft clear, concise RFIs and SARs, demonstrating strong written communication and the ability to articulate risk clearly to internal stakeholders and regulators.
  • Previous experience within a payments, crypto, or neo‑banking environment, with a strong understanding of industry‑specific risks, operating models, and regulatory expectations.

What's on Offer

  • Competitive daily rate between GBP 225 to GBP 250.
  • Opportunity to work within the innovative payments and neo-banking industry in London.
  • Temp to Perm position offering valuable experience in financial crime and compliance.



Contact
Rob Cope
Quote job ref
JN-022026-6944053
Phone number
+44 207 776 5935

Job summary

Job function
Compliance
Subsector
Financial Crime
Sector
Financial Services
Location
City of London
Contract type
Temporary
Consultant name
Rob Cope
Consultant phone
+44 207 776 5935
Job reference
JN-022026-6944053