Description

A focused course, tailored for you

AML Typology Translation for Advisory Engagements

Turn your CAMS certification into client-ready regulatory deliverables that hold up under examiner scrutiny.

A certified AML professional can identify a risk pattern in minutes. The gap that costs advisory engagements is the next step: translating that pattern into a structured deliverable a client team can execute, a compliance officer can defend, and an examiner can follow without asking for three rounds of clarification.

$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

Advisory AML work lives in the space between what a regulator expects and what a client's in-house team can actually produce. SAR narratives that read as a log of transaction facts rather than a reasoned typology analysis. CDD questionnaires that collect data nobody subsequently uses to make a decision. Risk appetite statements that reference the right frameworks but leave the scoring criteria undefined. The certified professional sees each of these as a solvable technical problem. The engagement stalls because the path from diagnosis to deliverable is rarely explicit in any training programme. This course makes that path explicit, module by module, artefact by artefact.

What you walk away with

Draft a SAR narrative that maps transaction facts to a named typology and satisfies examination documentation standards.
Design a CDD programme with defined risk-scoring logic that survives transaction-level testing by a second reviewer.
Produce a red-flag inventory tied to specific client transaction profiles, not generic regulatory guidance.
Write a risk appetite statement that defines the institution's tolerance at the product-line level, not only in aggregate.
Build an escalation matrix the compliance officer can apply without further interpretation at each decision node.
Deliver an examination-readiness memo that frames the client's AML programme against the examiner's current priority risk areas.

The 12 modules

Module 1. Typology Reading for Client Contexts

The FATF and EGMONT typology reports describe risk patterns at the sector level. This module covers how to read a published typology report and translate it into the three to five specific red flags relevant to the client's product mix, customer base, and transaction channels. Output: a one-page typology summary formatted for use as an engagement reference document.

Module 2. SAR Narrative Architecture

Examination feedback consistently cites SAR narratives that describe what happened without explaining why it was suspicious. This module covers the internal structure of a defensible SAR narrative: the predicate sentence that names the typology, the transaction sequence that grounds the analysis in facts, and the articulation of red flags that links the two. Each element is demonstrated on a worked example the participant can adapt.

Module 3. CDD Questionnaire Design

Most CDD questionnaires collect data that no one subsequently uses to make a risk decision. This module covers the design logic for a CDD questionnaire that connects each data field to a specific scoring variable, produces a risk tier output at the end of the workflow, and generates an audit trail the compliance officer can present to an examiner without reconstructing the original rationale.

Module 4. Beneficial Ownership Mapping for Complex Structures

Trust structures, layered holding companies, and nominee arrangements appear regularly in advisory engagements, particularly for clients with private banking, trade finance, or correspondent banking lines. This module covers the mapping methodology for identifying the ultimate beneficial owner through multi-layer structures, the documentation standard required at each tier, and the triggers for escalation when the structure resists resolution.

Module 5. Risk Appetite Statement at the Product Level

Risk appetite statements at the institutional level are necessary but rarely sufficient for an examiner who is testing whether a bank actually applies its stated tolerance at the transaction desk. This module covers how to write a product-line risk appetite addendum that names acceptable and unacceptable customer types, volume thresholds, and geographic exposure by product, with a worked example across three product lines.

Module 6. Transaction Monitoring Threshold Design

Threshold calibration is one of the most common examination findings. Too high and the programme misses risk; too low and the alert queue overwhelms the investigation team. This module covers the data inputs required for calibration, the documentation of the methodology used to set each threshold, and how to present the calibration rationale to an examiner in a way that demonstrates the institution did not simply inherit default settings from the system vendor.

Module 7. Correspondent Banking and CBCRM

Correspondent banking risk management has its own documentation expectations that differ from retail or commercial AML. This module covers the Correspondent Banking Customer Risk Management framework: the questionnaire structure for respondent bank due diligence, the nested AML programme assessment, the SWIFT KYC Registry interaction, and the ongoing monitoring triggers specific to the correspondent relationship.

Module 8. Trade Finance Red-Flag Profiling

Trade finance typologies include over- and under-invoicing, phantom shipments, and round-tripping. This module covers how to build a red-flag checklist for trade finance transactions that is specific to the client's instrument mix, how to document the review of each flag in the transaction record, and how to structure the escalation path when a documentary credit raises flags that the front office disputes.

Module 9. Examination-Readiness Documentation Memo

An examiner's first request is typically a documentation package that describes the institution's AML programme. This module covers how to write a programme overview memo that presents the governance structure, the risk assessment methodology, the monitoring programme, and the escalation matrix in the sequence an examiner uses to form their initial risk view. The output is a template memo the adviser can adapt for each client engagement.

Module 10. Escalation Matrix Design

Escalation procedures that say 'refer to compliance' without defining the decision criteria at each node produce inconsistent outcomes and examination findings. This module covers how to design an escalation matrix with explicit decision criteria at each tier, defined timeframes, named ownership, and a documentation standard that produces an audit trail the compliance function can present without reconstructing decisions from memory.

Module 11. AML Programme Gap Assessment Method

Advisory engagements often begin with a programme gap assessment. This module covers a structured methodology for conducting the assessment: the 12 programme elements to test, the evidence sources for each, the scoring approach that produces a prioritised gap list, and the presentation format that frames the findings as a remediation roadmap rather than a compliance catalogue. Worked example on a mid-size retail bank programme.

Module 12. Regulatory Change Integration

AML regulatory guidance changes regularly across multiple jurisdictions. This module covers how to build a regulatory change monitoring protocol for an advisory practice: the source list for FATF, BASEL, and national regulator updates, the triage method for assessing client-specific impact, and the client advisory note format that translates a regulatory change into a specific programme action the compliance officer can assign and track to completion.

How this addresses your situation

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

Modules 1-3 address the gap between a certified professional's risk reading and the deliverables a client team can produce and defend.

Modules 4-6 cover the three most common examination findings in CDD, beneficial ownership, and transaction monitoring calibration.

Modules 7-8 extend the framework to correspondent banking and trade finance, where the red-flag profile is structurally different from retail or commercial AML.

Modules 9-12 cover the engagement delivery layer: examination-readiness documentation, escalation matrix design, gap assessment methodology, and regulatory change integration.

What you get with this course

12 written modules in the Art of Service learning environment, self-paced
Downloadable templates for every output: SAR narrative, CDD questionnaire, escalation matrix, examination-readiness memo, gap assessment scorecard
Worked examples across four client contexts: retail bank, correspondent banking relationship, trade finance line, and private banking programme
Hand-built implementation playbook tailored to your specific advisory context, delivered alongside course access

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

Course access provisioned within 24 hours of purchase

Hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access within 24 hours

Before and after

Before

You can read a typology report and identify the client's risk profile, but translating that into a SAR narrative, a CDD workflow, or an examination-readiness memo that holds up under scrutiny requires a synthesis step that no certification programme makes explicit.

After

Each advisory engagement produces a structured set of deliverables with a documented rationale chain, from typology identification through to the artefact an examiner can review without requesting clarification on the methodology.

What happens if you do not address this

Advisory engagements in AML that produce technically correct risk diagnoses but under-documented deliverables create examination risk for the client and reputational exposure for the adviser. The gap between what you know and what the deliverable shows is where the engagement's credibility is decided.

Who it is for

Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists working in an advisory or professional services context who carry client engagements involving AML programme design, regulatory examination preparation, or financial crime compliance transformation. You already hold the technical knowledge. This course is about the delivery layer.

Who this is NOT for. In-house compliance officers building their own programme from scratch, or entry-level analysts seeking foundational AML knowledge. This course assumes you already hold the CAMS certification or equivalent and regularly advise clients rather than operate within a single institution's compliance function.

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. Approximately 6-8 hours across 12 modules. Each module is designed to be read and applied in a single sitting, with the output template ready to use in the next client engagement.

Why $199 is the right number

ACAMS continuing education covers regulatory updates but does not address the advisory delivery layer. Generic consulting frameworks cover engagement structure but not AML-specific artefact design. This course covers the gap between the two: the technical translation from risk identification to client-ready regulatory deliverable.

FAQ

Do I need a CAMS certification to take this course?

Not formally required, but the course assumes you already have working knowledge of AML typologies, CDD standards, and transaction monitoring. It is designed for people who advise clients on AML programmes rather than operate within a single institution.

Is the content specific to any single regulatory jurisdiction?

The methodology is designed to be jurisdiction-portable. Worked examples draw primarily from FATF recommendations, BCBS guidance, and FinCEN/FCA examination practice. The implementation playbook will be tailored to the jurisdictions most relevant to your specific advisory context.

How is the implementation playbook personalised?

After purchase, you will receive a short intake form asking about your advisory context: the client types you serve, the jurisdictions you operate in, and the programme elements you engage with most. The playbook is built from your answers within 24 hours.

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.