Chairman of Advisory Board – Zia Ullah

Zia is a partner in Eversheds Financial Services, Disputes and Investigations group, specialising in International Sanctions, AML and ABC. Ranked in Chambers, and Legal 500 he advises on all aspects of financial crime compliance and was previously the global head of Sanctions at Barclays.

His relevant skills and experience includes:

  • FCA approved Skilled Person on a large scale review of AML and sanctions compliance at the London HQ of an international bank.
  • providing AML and Sanctions training to the BBA, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Group, Allied Irish Banks, Clydesdale bank, VTB Capital.
  • representing an international bank and its CEO in an ongoing FCA AML and Sanctions FSMA enforcement action.
  • conducting AML and Sanctions audits on various online payments firms.
  • conducting an AML risk assessment on the UK operations of an international payments firm.
  • advising the BBA on the implementation of s41 of the Immigration Act 2014 (Banks’ obligations to screen new accounts).
  • drafting an AML and Sanctions policy for a FTSE 100 retailer.
  • developing a Compliance Advisory team providing audit services for financial institution clients focusing upon AML systems and controls.
  • conducting an AML audit on the compliance department of a UK plc operating in the payments sector.
  • Group Head of Sanctions within Group AML Compliance responsible for the Group wide sanctions control structure for Barclays.

Zia is a regular speaker at a number of financial services industry bodies including the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the Anti-Money Laundering Professionals Forum, the Association of Certified AML Specialists, and International Association of Money Transfer Networks. Zia has also written numerous articles on Sanctions, AML and ABC compliance for industry publications such as Complinet and Thomson Reuters Accelus and has also appeared on BBC radio and TV.

Rob Cutler – Partner – Forensic KPMG UK

Rob is a partner in the KPMG Financial Crime Team with a principal focus on Anti Money Laundering, ABC and Fraud. Rob is also the MLRO for all KPMG UK regulated entities. Prior to joining KPMG in 2013, Rob spent 11 years working for a number of institutions in the city in head of Financial Crime and AML Compliance roles, and previously spent six years working as a Financial Crime Regulatory Advisor at a big four firm. Rob is an ACA qualified accountant.

His relevant skills and experience includes:

Rob is a partner focussing on AML, ABC and Fraud issues for financial services clients which include KYC, Transaction Monitoring, Screening, Target Operating Models, strategy, and data analytics.

Soon after joining KPMG Rob went on secondment as the Interim Head of AML at a Tier 1 Wholesale Bank and provided strategic financial crime advice to the banks senior financial crime team. He was also the interim Head of Financial Crime for a large retail UK bank UK for 10 months where he built a new senior management layer for financial crime and helped run a significant financial crime transformation programme.

Prior to KPMG, Rob held CF1, CF10 and CF11 functions for an international investment bank and asset manager, and was responsible for all aspects of AML, Sanctions, Bribery and Corruption, PEPs, Enhanced Due diligence, Transaction monitoring, Customer screening, and Risk Assessments. Rob coordinated the drafting of new global policies in respect of these, provided ongoing advice on a range of sanctions issues and on the onboarding of high risk clients, and was responsible for the implementation of a new client onboarding platform and sanctions screening solution.

Rob has been the CF11 for all Life companies for a large UK Insurer and was responsible for fraud, AML, data protection and information security. He was responsible for advice and guidance relating to Financial Crime for all overseas subsidiaries and joint ventures (USA, Bahrain, India, Egypt, France, Germany).

Rob was the CF11 at a number of global banking institutions where he was responsible for AML and Sanctions across EMEA operating entities which covered Investment Banking, Asset Management and Private Banking. His work included managing Global AML projects relating to AML and assisting with the overall strategy of the AML function, leading investigations into potential money laundering, market abuse and fraud, liaising with the FSA, UK Treasury, SOCA and Police, providing Reputational Risk advice to all Business lines, and acting as the EMEA Compliance co-ordinator for all off shoring/deployment activities.

In addition to these roles, Rob has also held positions on a number of industry bodies including the BBA Money Laundering Policy Group, BBA Money Laundering Advisory Panel, Futures and Options Association AML group, the Association of British Insurers AML group and ICAEW AML working group.

  • Good website and tricky questions. Sorts out the AML Diplomas from the people with real experience!!

    Regulatory Partner, 'Big 4' Professional Services Provider
  • Very good test by the way! It is tough.

    Transaction Monitoring Analyst, Regional Corporate & Investment Bank
  • Great product. Much tougher than other tests I have taken on these subjects. Looking forward to the Conduct modules.

    Head of Transaction Surveillance, Regional Corporate & Investment Bank
  • I have to say once I had completed it I felt I had been tested. I was quite relieved to see my score.

    MLRO, Regional Investment Bank
  • The IQ test was a good mixture of technical and practical questions. As a recruiting Manager of KYC Analysts for over 12 years this would be an excellent tool to help evaluate a candidate’s experience. I particularly liked the time limit to prevent people looking up the answer so you get a true perception of their AML knowledge.

    Director of Client On-Boarding, EMEA Investment Bank
  • I admit I was a little nervous about taking the test until I realised only the top performers can enter the Hall of Fame and even then some use the name Rumpole. Brilliant!

    Regional Head of Financial Crime , Global Investment Bank