Financial Crime Operations Team of the Year

This award recognises an outstanding financial crime operations team that has demonstrated excellence in preventing, detecting and responding to financial crime while supporting customer outcomes, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance. 

The winning team will demonstrate how it has delivered measurable impact through effective financial crime controls, strong stakeholder collaboration, operational excellence and continuous improvement. Judges will look for evidence of a high-performing team that has successfully balanced risk management, customer experience and business objectives.

Eligibility

  • Open to in-house financial crime operations teams only. 
  • Eligible teams may include AML operations, KYC/CDD, onboarding, transaction monitoring, sanctions, investigations, fraud operations, screening or financial crime control teams. 
  • Entries must reflect activity, achievements and impact delivered within the last 12-18 months. 
  • The team must be based in or operating within Europe. 
  • Outsourced service providers, managed service providers and third-party teams are not eligible.

Criteria

  • Your submission needs to respond to the 3 criteria sections: Spirit, Approach and Outcome.
  • You will be awarded a maximum of 10 points per section (30 points in total).
  • Questions are suggested in each criteria section. These are prompts to help you think about the evidence that will help judges to best assess your entry. You do not need to address all questions, please use them as a guide.
  • The 4th criteria section Validation is optional and is your opportunity to provide supporting documents to further demonstrate to judges why your submission should win. You can submit up to 3 supporting documents.  

 

Spirit:  Introduce your team, its responsibilities and the environment in which it operates

Please provide details such as:

  • The size, structure and remit of the team 
  • The financial crime risks, customer types or operational activities for which the team is responsible 
  • The business, regulatory and operational environment in which the team operates 
  • Key priorities and objectives over the last 12-18 months 
  • Significant challenges, opportunities or pressures faced by the team 
  • How the team's role supports financial crime prevention, customer protection and organisational objectives

 

Approach: Demonstrate how the team has delivered excellence, innovation and operational effectiveness

Please address some or all of the following:

  • How the team has demonstrated leadership, professionalism and technical expertise 
  • How the team has balanced financial crime prevention with customer experience and business objectives 
  • How the team has strengthened financial crime controls, processes or operating models 
  • Examples of collaboration with compliance, risk, technology, operations, product or business teams 
  • How the team has responded to emerging financial crime threats, regulatory change or evolving customer risks 
  • Examples of innovation, automation, technology adoption or continuous improvement 
  • How the team has developed colleagues and maintained high levels of engagement, quality and performance 
  • How the team has promoted accountability and a strong culture of risk awareness and compliance 

 

Outcome: Show the value and impact delivered by the team

Please include evidence such as:

  • Key achievements over the past 12-18 months 
  • Improvements in financial crime prevention, detection, investigation or risk management outcomes 
  • Improvements in customer onboarding, customer experience, service levels or operational effectiveness 
  • Enhanced quality, accuracy, productivity or scalability 
  • Quantitative and/or qualitative measures of success 
  • Feedback from business stakeholders, customers, regulators or senior leadership, where available 
  • Evidence of increased trust, influence or engagement across the organisation 
  • Evidence that improvements have been embedded and sustained
  • Both quantitative and qualitative evidence are welcome. 

 

Validation (Optional): Support your entry with any further information to show the judges why your team should win

Examples include:

  • Short testimonials (100 words maximum each) from business leaders, executive sponsors or key stakeholders 
  • Performance metrics, operational dashboards or productivity data 
  • Audit findings, assurance reviews, regulatory feedback or independent assessments 
  • Customer feedback, quality assurance results or service performance measures 
  • Evidence demonstrating measurable improvements in financial crime outcomes, operational effectiveness or customer experience 
  • External recognition received by the team 
  • You may submit up to three supporting documents for this section.