Analyst – Transaction Monitoring

Our client, a fast-growing bank in Kenya that operates on ethical, interest-free banking principles and is part of a major global financial group, is seeking to hire an Analyst – Transaction Monitoring within their Compliance Department. Reporting to the Senior Officer – Transaction Monitoring & Payments Screening, this role is based in Nairobi and sits within a dynamic team supporting the bank’s strategic objectives.

The Analyst in Transaction Monitoring will be primarily involved in detecting, investigating, and reporting suspicious financial transactions to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing, and other financial crimes.

Will be responsible for Implementation/Tuning/Enhancement of detective controls for AML Transaction monitoring as well as assisting in developing preventive controls for mitigating sanctions risks as per Group/Regulatory policies and procedures. Additionally, she /he will safeguard the Bank by ensuring it does not become a conduit for illicit financial flows, thereby maintaining regulatory compliance and protecting the bank's reputation.

• To conduct daily monitoring /review /analysis of alert generated/created on Transaction Monitoring System (TMS) to identify suspicious or unusual activities that may indicate financial crime risks such as money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing or fraud etc.
  

• Investigating alerts and discounting alerts based on available information in TMS system and extracting details from the bank's other system to determine if transactions are suspicious and require escalation.
  

• Analyzing and verifying incoming and outgoing payment transactions to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) laws, sanction regulations and fraud prevention.
  

• Scrutinize payment transactions effectively before processing.
  

• Screening payments against sanctions lists, embargo lists, politically exposed persons (PEP) lists, and internal blacklists to prevent transactions involving sanctioned or high-risk entities using specialized payment screening software tools designed for real-time or offline monitoring and alert management
  

• Collecting and validating transaction data, such as sender and receiver details, transaction amount, and geographic information, purpose of payment, underlying commercial activity to detect anomalies.
  

• Prepare and submit Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) or Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) in compliance with regulatory requirements.
  

• Conclude alert with justifiable rationale/comments as per prescribed procedures/checklist and maintain detailed documentation of investigations and findings.
  

• Authenticating and verifying customer identities using Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures to confirm legitimacy of transaction parties
  

• Proposing solutions and assisting in tuning and optimizing transaction monitoring rules and thresholds to minimize false positives and increase monitoring effectiveness.
  

• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of regulatory requirements and sanctions updates to ensure continuous compliance and minimize false positives
  

• Collaborate with internal teams like Risk, audit, and Operations to improve monitoring processes and ensure compliance with internal policies and regulatory standards.
  

• Review and assist senior management to mitigate major Regulatory/Financial crime risks posed to the bank by identifying, analyzing and proposing the resolutions.
  

• Perform assessments by comparing transaction data with customer profiles and previous activity to identify anomalies and new financial crime typologies and trends
  

• Support regulatory audits and internal quality assurance reviews related to financial crime compliance
  

• Documenting and reporting screening activities and decisions for audit trails, line manager verification, and regulatory reporting.
  

• Collaborating with security and investigations unit, law enforcement and regulatory agencies as needed when suspicious or illegal activity is detected.
  

Key Relationship (Internal & External)

Internally: All Business/Support functions

Job Complexity/Judgment

• Ability to escalate red flags for further investigation and decision making.
  

• Ability to achieve the target or goals assigned by the management.
  

• Ability to liaise with internal/external stakeholders to optimize and maximize business opportunities.
  

• Ability to ensure designated projects are completed on time.
  

• Ability to Identify and define problems and draw valid and effective solutions.
  

Job Specification

• Experience with transaction monitoring and sanction screening systems
  

• Analytical Ability
  

• Compliance Policy design and development
  

• Governance and Risk Management
  

• Sanctions Compliance Management
  

• Sharia Principles
  

• Risk Management
  

• Data validation
  

Behavioral Competencies