Description

A focused course, tailored for you

Financial Crime Risk for Transaction Banking Managers

Build the investigation workflow, typology library, and AUSTRAC-ready reporting stack that separates a reactive team from a proactive one.

The SAR that took eleven days to clear compliance review because the narrative missed the layering analysis. The customer escalation that landed on your desk because the transaction monitoring alert was closed without a documented rationale. The AUSTRAC audit prep that surfaced three undocumented typology calls from the previous quarter. These are not edge cases for a Financial Crime Risk Manager in transaction banking. They are the recurring friction that makes the role feel reactive when it should feel controlled.

$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

Transaction banking generates a specific class of financial crime exposure: high-volume, low-individual-value payments across corridors that mix legitimate trade finance with layering risk. A Manager in this function is accountable for the investigation decisions their analysts make, the SAR narratives that reach compliance, and the typology coverage that underpins the annual AUSTRAC regulatory return. When any of those three layers is thin, the audit finding lands on the Manager's desk, not the analyst's. The problem is rarely effort. It is the absence of a documented, repeatable methodology that holds up under regulatory scrutiny and scales without the Manager reviewing every file personally.

What you walk away with

Build a triage framework that routes transaction monitoring alerts by risk score, corridor type, and customer segment without requiring Manager sign-off on every decision.
Map the specific layering, structuring, and trade-based money laundering typologies that apply to the payment corridors your desk runs.
Write SAR narratives that pass compliance review on first submission by structuring the transaction chronology, the layering analysis, and the reasonable grounds finding in the order your compliance function actually reads them.
Document the typology rationale for every closed alert so the next AUSTRAC audit finds a decision log, not a gap.
Build a 30-day onboarding module for new analysts that encodes your investigation methodology without requiring you to shadow every case.
Produce the typology library and corridor risk map that forms the evidentiary backbone of your next annual AUSTRAC return.

The 12 modules

Module 1. The Transaction Banking Financial Crime Landscape

Maps the specific financial crime typologies that apply to transaction banking as distinct from retail or investment banking. Covers trade-based money laundering, correspondent banking layering, and the payment corridor risk matrix that drives alert volume at scale. Ends with a typology inventory template your team fills in for its own corridors, structured to feed directly into module 3 triage logic.

Module 2. AUSTRAC Obligations for Transaction Banking Managers

Works through the reporting entity obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act that sit with your role specifically: threshold transaction reports, international funds transfer instructions, and the suspicious matter report trigger test. Covers the common gap between what the analyst documents and what the AUSTRAC reporting obligation actually requires, with reference to the AUSTRAC typology guidance for high-value payment corridors.

Module 3. Building a Triage Framework That Scales

Designs the alert routing logic that allows your analysts to make consistent investigation decisions without Manager escalation on routine alerts. Covers risk-scoring inputs (customer segment, corridor, alert type, prior SAR history), the decision tree for escalation vs. closure, and the documentation standard that makes every closed alert defensible in audit. Produces a triage decision matrix template calibrated to your team's alert volume.

Module 4. Investigation Workflow: From Alert to File

Sequences the investigation steps from initial alert review through transaction data pull, customer profile check, and preliminary typology assessment to the handoff decision point. Covers the specific evidence artefacts AUSTRAC examiners look for in investigation files: the transaction chronology, the customer risk profile snapshot, the typology rationale, and the reasonable grounds assessment. Produces a standard investigation file checklist your analysts can use for every case.

Module 5. Layering Analysis: The Narrative Gap That Fails Compliance Review

Focuses on the most common SAR rejection trigger: a transaction narrative that describes the facts without explaining why the layering pattern constitutes reasonable grounds. Covers the three-part narrative structure (what happened, what the typology match is, why that constitutes reasonable grounds), worked examples from trade finance and payment corridor contexts, and the compliance review checklist your sign-off officer applies. Ends with a SAR narrative template your team can adapt for its most common typologies.

Module 6. Trade-Based Money Laundering Typologies

Goes deep on the TBML typologies most relevant to transaction banking: over and under-invoicing, multiple invoicing, falsely described goods, and black market peso exchange patterns as they appear in payment data. Covers the transaction data indicators, the documentation requests that surface the underlying trade, and the SAR narrative structure for TBML cases. Produces a TBML typology reference card formatted for use during alert review.

Module 7. Correspondent Banking and Nested Account Risk

Covers the financial crime risk specific to correspondent relationships: nested account structures, shell company indicators in payment instructions, and the due diligence documentation that satisfies a correspondent banking review. Links to the FATF guidance on correspondent banking and the AUSTRAC industry guidance on nested accounts. Produces a correspondent banking alert escalation checklist for cases where the underlying customer is not your own.

Module 8. Structuring and Threshold Transaction Reporting

Covers the structuring typologies that appear in transaction banking alongside threshold transaction report obligations: cash equivalent instruments, sequential transactions designed to avoid the $10,000 threshold, and the customer behaviour patterns that indicate structuring intent versus legitimate business rhythm. Works through the TTR lodgement workflow and the documentation standard for structuring investigations that may or may not meet the SMR threshold.

Module 9. Building the Team's Typology Library

Walks the process of building a team-owned typology reference library from the investigation files your team has already closed. Covers how to extract typology patterns from historical SARs, how to structure the library so it is searchable by corridor and customer segment, and how to maintain it as new AUSTRAC guidance and FATF typology reports are released. Produces the library template and the quarterly update process that keeps it current.

Module 10. The AUSTRAC Regulatory Relationship

Covers the operational side of the AUSTRAC relationship: the annual compliance report, the regulatory return, and the examination process. Walks through what examiners look for in a transaction banking financial crime program, the common findings categories for institutions your size, and the documentation that demonstrates a proactive rather than reactive posture. Produces a regulatory readiness checklist mapped to the AUSTRAC examination scope for transaction banking.

Module 11. Analyst Onboarding and Methodology Transfer

Builds the 30-day onboarding module for new financial crime analysts that encodes your investigation methodology without requiring Manager shadowing. Covers the knowledge transfer structure (typology overview, triage framework, file standards, escalation criteria), the assessment checkpoints that confirm the analyst is ready to work independently, and the ongoing quality review process that catches drift before it becomes an audit finding. Produces the onboarding module outline and assessment rubric.

Module 12. The Annual AUSTRAC Return: Evidential Backbone

Closes the course by connecting every prior module to the annual AUSTRAC compliance report. Covers the sections of the return that require evidential support from your investigation files, the typology coverage statement that demonstrates your program addresses the corridors you operate in, and the senior management attestation that rests on the documentation your team has built across the year. Produces the internal evidence pack template that makes the annual return a compilation exercise rather than a reconstruction.

How this addresses your situation

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

SAR pushed back by compliance because narrative lacked layering analysis: modules 5, 4.

AUSTRAC examination found undocumented typology rationale in closed alerts: modules 3, 9, 10.

New analyst taking too long to become independent, requiring Manager review on every file: module 11.

Annual AUSTRAC compliance report required evidence that was not systematically retained: modules 9, 12.

What you get with this course

12 written modules covering investigation workflow, typology mapping, SAR narrative construction, and AUSTRAC regulatory reporting.
Downloadable triage decision matrix template calibrated to transaction banking alert volumes.
SAR narrative template structured for compliance review pass on first submission.
TBML typology reference card for use during alert review.
Typology library template with quarterly update process.
Analyst onboarding module outline and assessment rubric.
AUSTRAC regulatory readiness checklist mapped to examination scope.
Internal evidence pack template for the annual AUSTRAC compliance return.
The hand-built implementation playbook, delivered alongside course access within 24 hours.

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

Within 24 hours of purchase: course access provisioned in the Art of Service learning environment and the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside it.

Before and after

Before

SARs sitting in compliance review for ten-plus days because the layering narrative needs rework. Closed alerts without documented typology rationale. Annual AUSTRAC return requiring a reconstruction of evidence that should have been retained throughout the year.

After

A triage framework your analysts run without Manager escalation. SAR narratives that pass compliance review on first submission. A typology library that makes the annual AUSTRAC return a compilation exercise. An onboarding module that makes new analysts investigation-ready in 30 days.

What happens if you do not address this

The next AUSTRAC examination will find the same undocumented typology rationale that the last one found, because the investigation methodology is still in the Manager's head rather than in a documented, auditable framework. The compliance relationship deteriorates and the regulatory uplift requirement lands.

Who it is for

A Financial Crime Risk Manager or Senior Analyst in transaction banking at a major Australian financial institution, accountable for alert triage quality, SAR production, and AUSTRAC regulatory reporting. Probably managing two to six analysts. Has seen at least one compliance review push back on a SAR narrative for insufficient typology analysis or missing layering evidence. Wants to build the kind of repeatable workflow that makes the team self-sufficient and the regulatory relationships straightforward.

Who this is NOT for. Retail banking fraud investigators whose primary exposure is card-not-present chargebacks. AML compliance officers who sit above the investigation function and own policy rather than casework. Anyone whose team produces fewer than twenty SARs per quarter.

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 8-10 hours across the 12 modules, plus implementation time for the frameworks and templates in your team's existing investigation workflow.

Why $199 is the right number

AUSTRAC-run industry forums cover regulatory expectations but not the internal workflow design. External AML consultants charge $15,000-$40,000 for an investigation framework review and produce a report that sits in a drawer. Internal policy rewrites take six months and require legal review. This course produces working templates your team uses immediately, at $199.

FAQ

Is this specific to Australian regulatory requirements?

The AUSTRAC framework and the AML/CTF Act obligations are the primary regulatory reference throughout. The investigation methodology, typology frameworks, and SAR narrative structure translate to comparable regimes (FINTRAC, FinCEN, NZFIU) but the course is built for the Australian context.

My team already has investigation procedures. Will this conflict with them?

The course produces templates and frameworks that are designed to sit alongside existing procedures, not replace them. Module 3 in particular walks the triage framework design as a gap-fill exercise against what your team already does.

How is the playbook tailored to my role?

The hand-built implementation playbook is produced after your purchase, specific to a Financial Crime Risk Manager in transaction banking. It takes the course frameworks and formats them for direct use in your team's workflow rather than as generic reference material.

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.