Post by Ashish Srivastava

🚨 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗼 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆? During a routine periodic review of a mid-sized corporate client at a MNC bank, I discovered that one of the authorized signatories had been added to the Head Office (HO) Internal Sanction/Watchlist due to prior suspicious activity concerns. Assess the elevated risk to the corporate relationship and decide on appropriate risk rating + mitigation actions without disrupting legitimate business unnecessarily. 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 upgraded the corporate account to High Risk. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 enhanced due diligence, including fresh source of funds/wealth verification and deeper beneficial ownership review. 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 the Relationship Manager to request removal of the signatory’s transaction authority. 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗱 stricter transaction monitoring rules and escalated the case to the Sanctions Committee for final decision. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: The company agreed to remove the signatory. We retained the client relationship under enhanced monitoring, effectively mitigated the risk, and strengthened our control environment. Zero regulatory exposure. This case reinforced a key lesson in sanctions & AML compliance: Internal watchlists are not just "nice-to-have" — 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 that help protect the bank and maintain a strong risk culture. In MNC banks, balancing client retention with robust de-risking is both an art and a science. #AML #SanctionsCompliance #FinancialCrime #KYC #CDD #Banking #RiskManagement #Compliance #AntiMoneyLaundering #MNCBanks #InternalWatchlist #PeriodicReview #FinancialCrimePrevention #DeutscheBank #Barclays #BNPParibas #MUFG #DBS #Santander #HDFC #StandardChartered #HSBC #DeutscheBank #DBSBank #Citibank #JPMorganChase #Barclays #MizuhoBank #BNPParibas #BankOfAmerica #SocieteGenerale #EmiratesNBD #QNB #FirstAbuDhabiBank #SBMBank #CreditAgricole #ICBC