Financial Crime & AML Lead

Aspera Edge engages institutional counterparties operating under multi-jurisdictional financial crime and anti-money-laundering frameworks. The APAC operational anchor manages the financial crime and AML function across Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai, and the broader APAC regulatory environment — a region where AML/CTF frameworks operate with distinct supervisory characteristics under MAS, HKMA, RBI, FSA, and equivalent bodies.

The Financial Crime & AML Lead is the operational specialist of this function. The role establishes how AML/CTF monitoring operates across counterparty engagement, how financial crime risk is assessed and surfaced, and how suspicious activity escalation pathways function across APAC jurisdictions.

Lead financial crime and anti-money-laundering operations across APAC institutional engagement. Establish AML/CTF monitoring framework, financial crime risk assessment protocols, and suspicious activity escalation pathways across counterparty engagement.

The Lead operates the AML/CTF surface across APAC counterparty institutions — managing transaction monitoring, beneficial ownership assessment, sanctions screening operations, and suspicious activity protocols. The role operates against APAC regulatory realities: MAS Notice 626 expectations, HKMA AML/CTF guidelines, RBI KYC frameworks, FSA guidance, and equivalent APAC jurisdictional standards.

Day-to-day, the role coordinates with the Head of Compliance Operations on AML/CTF architecture, with Governance & Controls Associate on AML control effectiveness testing, with Institutional Risk Analyst on financial crime risk exposure, and with Legal Operations Counsel on regulatory legal interpretation of AML matters.

The function operates against the reality that APAC financial crime supervision is increasingly assertive — and that counterparty engagement requires AML/CTF protocols that withstand examination by APAC supervisors under regulatory inquiry conditions.

• Lead AML/CTF monitoring across APAC counterparty engagement, including transaction monitoring, periodic review protocols, and ongoing customer due diligence
• Establish financial crime risk assessment framework across counterparty operations, including risk scoring, enhanced due diligence triggers, and risk-based monitoring intensity
• Direct sanctions screening across APAC counterparty engagement — OFAC, UN consolidated, EU consolidated, UK HMT, and APAC jurisdictional sanctions regimes including HKMA, MAS, and equivalent lists
• Operate suspicious transaction monitoring and STR escalation pathways, including suspicious activity assessment, internal escalation protocols, and regulatory filing across APAC jurisdictions
• Coordinate beneficial ownership verification across counterparty group structures, including UBO assessment, control structure analysis, and beneficial ownership documentation
• Handle financial crime escalation events — sanctions hit, suspicious activity finding, financial crime inquiry — through documented investigative protocols
• Coordinate with the Head of Compliance Operations on regulatory examination preparation specific to AML/CTF matters
• Translate APAC AML/CTF regulatory evolution into operating protocols — monitoring MAS, HKMA, RBI, FSA framework changes and adapting Aspera Edge AML architecture to APAC jurisdictional shifts
• Coordinate AML/CTF training and operational awareness across counterparty-facing functions

• APAC financial crime regulatory frameworks: MAS Notice 626, HKMA AML/CTF guidelines, RBI KYC framework, FSA guidance, BNM AML/CFT, ASIC AML/CTF
• Sanctions regimes operating across APAC counterparty engagement: OFAC, UN consolidated, EU consolidated, UK HMT, MAS, HKMA, and equivalent jurisdictional lists
• FATF standards and APAC FATF-style regional bodies (APG, MENAFATF where applicable)
• Transaction monitoring systems and screening infrastructure across counterparty engagement
• Internal coordination with Head of Compliance Operations, Governance & Controls Associate, Institutional Risk Analyst, Legal Operations Counsel
• Counterparty AML/CTF teams at institutional counterparties under enhanced due diligence conditions
• External regulator engagement with APAC supervisory bodies on financial crime matters

• 7–10 years financial crime or AML leadership at APAC institutional financial firm, payments institution, or comparable regulated financial environment
• Demonstrated leadership of AML/CTF programs at institutional scale, including framework establishment and operating protocol implementation
• APAC regulatory operating experience — direct working familiarity with MAS, HKMA, RBI, FSA, or equivalent APAC AML/CTF frameworks at investigative depth rather than policy depth
• Direct exposure to sanctions screening operations across major regimes (OFAC, UN, EU, UK HMT, APAC jurisdictional sanctions) and operational realities of sanctions false positive management
• Working fluency with transaction monitoring methodology, suspicious activity assessment, and STR filing procedures
• CAMS, ICA, or equivalent AML/financial crime professional certification preferred
• Investigative discipline — comfortable operating in regulator-facing investigative contexts and managing financial crime inquiries procedurally