Description

A focused course, tailored for you

The AML Analyst Investigation Practicum

From alert triage to SAR submission: the evidence standards, templates, and quality checks that close investigations clean.

The correspondent bank EDD file that is eighteen months old and three typology versions behind is not the exception. At any global bank with a large correspondent network, it is the standard. The problem is not that analysts do not know the regulation. The problem is that the artefact quality standard for each investigation outcome is not written down anywhere in a form you can use during a live case.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

The problem at global banks is not AML knowledge. The problem is artefact quality under examination conditions. A transaction monitoring alert that took four minutes to triage and close as non-suspicious must still be defensible two years later when a look-back review opens the case. An EDD file refreshed on schedule still fails when the typologies table is three versions behind the current guidance. A SAR filed on time still comes back for revision when the narrative cannot trace the suspicion to a specific transaction pattern. The analyst doing the work knows the customer is suspicious. The evidence file has to make that case without the analyst in the room to explain it.

What you walk away with

Triage transaction monitoring alerts with a documented rationale that survives a look-back review without reopening.
Build CDD and EDD files that meet the current examination standard for each customer risk category.
Produce SAR narratives that trace suspicion to transaction evidence and pass FIU quality review on first submission.
Screen PEPs and sanctions matches with a decision record that holds up to regulatory challenge.
Document correspondent bank due diligence to the standard required for high-risk relationship approval.
Close investigation files with an audit trail that a regulator or internal audit team can follow without additional explanation.

The 12 modules

Module 1. Alert Triage and Risk Scoring

Transaction monitoring systems generate hundreds of alerts daily, and the prioritisation decision made in the first 60 seconds determines whether real risk gets buried under volume. This module covers the five-tier triage methodology used by global bank AML teams: reading alert metadata, identifying the three signal types that justify immediate escalation to EDD, and building a documented rationale for close-as-non-suspicious decisions that survives a look-back review without reopening.

Module 2. CDD File Standards That Hold Under Exam

A CDD file that satisfied your examiner two years ago may not satisfy them today. This module walks through the current evidence hierarchy for standard CDD: beneficial ownership documentation, business purpose verification, expected activity parameters, and the six fields examiners consistently flag when missing or stale. You leave with a CDD quality checklist calibrated to each customer risk tier, with the minimum evidence standard per field clearly defined.

Module 3. Enhanced Due Diligence for High-Risk Customer Categories

EDD files for correspondent banks, politically exposed persons, and high-value private customers require a different evidence standard than standard CDD. This module covers the artefact set for each high-risk category: the source-of-wealth narrative structure, senior management approval documentation, typologies mapping against current guidance, and the refresh trigger criteria that keeps the file current without creating unnecessary burden on the relationship team.

Module 4. PEP Identification, Screening, and Ongoing Monitoring

PEP status changes: a minister loses office, a family member takes an appointment, a close associate becomes sanctioned. This module covers the PEP identification framework beyond initial onboarding screening: the four categories of PEP adjacency your programme must cover, how to document negative screening decisions that hold up to challenge, and the ongoing monitoring schedule calibrated to the customer's risk rating and the jurisdiction's political stability profile.

Module 5. Sanctions Screening and Adverse Media Review

A match on a sanctions list is not a confirmed match until your documented analysis says it is. This module covers the name-matching decision framework: fuzzy-match scoring thresholds, transliteration patterns for Arabic and Cyrillic names, and the adverse media review process including source credibility assessment. The module ends with a screening record template that satisfies both the compliance team and the customer-facing relationship team handling the inquiry.

Module 6. Correspondent Banking Due Diligence

Correspondent banking relationships carry the highest risk concentration in a global bank's AML portfolio. This module covers the correspondent bank CDD template in full: SWIFT BIC verification, the nested correspondent relationship question, beneficial ownership tracing for the correspondent's underlying customer base, and the annual review methodology. You leave with a completed correspondent bank template and the red-flag indicators that trigger enhanced review before your examiner identifies them.

Module 7. Source of Funds and Source of Wealth Verification

Customers describe their funds as business income or asset sales. The evidence either confirms that narrative or creates a gap you have to document. This module covers the document set for source-of-funds verification by customer type: company accounts and management accounts for business customers, asset disposal records for high-net-worth individuals, and remittance chain documentation for cross-border payment customers where the originator is two or more steps removed from the account.

Module 8. SAR Drafting and Quality Review

SAR narratives that come back for revision share four failure points: vague activity description, missing chronology, unsupported suspicion basis, and a proposed scheme not grounded in the transaction evidence. This module deconstructs six SAR structures by typology, identifies each failure point, and rebuilds them to the narrative standard your financial intelligence unit and your regulator expect. You leave with a SAR narrative template per typology calibrated to your customer base.

Module 9. Transaction Monitoring Typologies and Alert Tuning

The typology library your transaction monitoring system runs against determines what you find and what you miss. This module covers typology construction for the five highest-volume risk areas at global banks: trade finance red flags, correspondent banking layering patterns, retail-to-business structuring, wire transfer splitting, and cash-equivalent instrument sequences. Each typology includes the transaction pattern, account behaviour signals, and the alert threshold rationale to give your tuning requests technical credibility with the financial crime technology team.

Module 10. Regulatory Examination Preparation and Look-Back Reviews

Regulators do not announce exactly what they want to see until they are already in the room. This module covers the pre-examination preparation cycle at global banks: the document request response protocol, the look-back review methodology for historic alert closures under the current typologies standard, and the management information pack that demonstrates programme effectiveness rather than just activity volume. The module includes a pre-exam preparation checklist aligned to the current examination manual format.

Module 11. Cross-Border Transaction Red Flags and Corridor Analysis

Cross-border transactions routed through correspondent networks generate the highest regulatory scrutiny and the most complex investigation chains. This module covers the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction red-flag matrix for high-risk payment corridors: how to read correspondent bank payment messages for structuring signals, the four documentation requirements for large cross-border wires above threshold, and the corridor analysis report format that identifies concentration risk in your correspondent network before the next examination cycle opens.

Module 12. File Closure Standards and Audit Trail Documentation

A file that closes clean today must still close clean when a regulator or internal audit team reviews it three years from now. This module covers the audit trail requirements for every investigation outcome: the case management note structure, the evidence retention schedule by document type, the analyst sign-off protocol for case closure, and the quality assurance review format your AML compliance officer uses before approving a close-as-non-suspicious decision on a high-value account.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

Alert volumes spike after public holidays and product launches. Modules 1 and 9 give you the triage methodology and typology library to handle volume without sacrificing documentation quality.

Correspondent bank EDD files that age without automatic refresh triggers are the most common finding in global bank examinations. Modules 6, 7, and 3 build the complete correspondent bank artefact set.

SAR narratives returned for revision create timeline pressure and examiner attention. Module 8 deconstructs the most common failure points and gives you a template by typology that avoids them.

Pre-examination preparation is where programme gaps become regulatory findings. Modules 10 and 12 cover the documentation cycle and audit trail standards that determine how a look-back review ends.

What you get with this course

Twelve text-based modules in the Art of Service learning environment, each covering a distinct stage of the AML analyst investigation cycle.
Downloadable templates for every module: CDD quality checklist, EDD artefact sets by customer category, PEP screening decision record, correspondent bank CDD template, SAR narrative templates by typology, pre-examination preparation checklist, and case closure documentation standard.
The hand-built implementation playbook: a step-by-step walkthrough of the full investigation cycle applied to your specific account base and risk categories, delivered alongside course access.
Unlimited access to the learning environment with no time expiry.

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Immediate access to all twelve modules in the Art of Service learning environment on purchase.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.

Before and after

Before

Alert closures documented to satisfy the immediate supervisor review. EDD files built to the evidence standard that was current when the template was last updated. SAR narratives that describe suspicious activity without always tracing it cleanly back to the specific transaction sequence that triggered the monitoring alert.

After

Alert closures with a documented rationale that survives a three-year look-back review. EDD files built to the current typologies standard for each customer risk category. SAR narratives that your FIU accepts on first submission because the suspicion is grounded in the specific transaction evidence, not in the analyst's knowledge of the customer.

What happens if you do not address this

The examination cycle catches file quality gaps that routine supervision does not. An analyst who can triage, document, and close investigations to the current examination standard is not doing more work. They are doing the same work with evidence that holds. The cost of a regulatory finding at a global bank is not the finding itself. It is the remediation programme, the look-back review of every similar file, and the examiner attention that follows for the next two or three cycles.

Who it is for

AML and KYC analysts at global banks and major financial institutions who are accountable for the investigation quality of their case files, not just the activity volume. They triage transaction monitoring alerts daily, maintain correspondent banking EDD portfolios, write SAR narratives, and prepare for regulatory examinations. They understand AML concepts. What they need is the specific evidence standard for each investigation outcome and the templates that produce that standard consistently.

Who this is NOT for. AML programme designers building frameworks from scratch, compliance officers setting policy, or analysts at community banks without correspondent banking exposure. This course is built for hands-on investigation work at the analyst level in a global bank environment.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Each module is designed to complete in 45 to 60 minutes. The full course completes in a standard working week at one module per day, or in two days at intensive pace. Templates are immediately usable in live investigations.

Why $199 is the right number

Free FATF guidance and regulatory advisories cover what is required at the programme level. What they do not cover is the artefact quality standard for each investigation outcome at the analyst execution level, or the template set that produces that standard consistently without each analyst building their own from scratch. Internal training at global banks covers policy. It rarely covers the evidence construction methodology for each case type.

FAQ

Is this relevant to AML programmes outside the US?

Yes. The investigation methodology, evidence standards, and SAR narrative quality standards covered in this course are consistent with the FATF 40 Recommendations and apply to AML programmes in any FATF member jurisdiction. Module-level examples reference frameworks applicable to European and APAC-based global banks.

Does this cover correspondent banking specifically, or just retail AML?

Module 6 is dedicated entirely to correspondent banking due diligence, including the nested correspondent relationship question, SWIFT message analysis, and the full correspondent bank CDD artefact set. Modules 11 and 9 also address cross-border transaction red flags and typologies specifically applicable to correspondent banking activity.

How does the implementation playbook differ from the course modules?

The course modules cover methodology and standards. The implementation playbook is built specifically for your account base and risk categories, and walks through applying the module content to the actual investigation types your team handles. It is hand-built and delivered within 24 hours of purchase.

Is this relevant for someone who has been doing AML work for several years?

The value is not in introducing AML concepts. The value is in the current examination-standard artefact set for each case type and the templates that produce that standard consistently. Experienced analysts typically find the SAR narrative templates and the EDD artefact standards most immediately applicable to their live case load.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.