In today’s competitive climate, private banking professionals faced a lot of challenges. One of the key to success include a better understanding of your clients and their source of wealth. Instead of ticking boxes without understanding the rationale and implications of doing so, this course will equip you with the knowledge and skill to assess and document the sources of wealth of your high net-worth clients.

• Private banking heads
• Private banking relationship managers
• Private banking front office customer service officers
• Wealth KYC team

To enable Private Bankers and their support staff including KYC team to be competent and committed in assessing and documenting the source of wealth for private banking accounts.

Introduction

• Set – Short review of AML developments
• Upset – Why must private bankers document source of wealth?
• Reset – Private bankers, especially the front office has to take active ownership of ML risks

Review of AML requirements

• Enhanced customer due diligence for private banking
• MAS guidance on private banking controls on source of wealth

Source and verification

• Typical source
• Not so typical source
• Supporting documents
• Research and other means of verification
• Special mentions
  • PEPs (Panama, 1MDB)
  • Country risk

Onboarding process

• Getting the prospect to tell wealth story
  • Identify sources
  • Documentation
  • Other means of verification
• Not scientific, but do not ignore your gut

Only by the book

• Ticking the boxes
• Going strictly by the rules
• Generic rules vs special cases

Cases that went wrong

• Analyse 2 or 3 cases
• Staff can share actual or near misses, if any

Collateral benefit

• Reduce cost of operation
• Knowing customer needs — a marketing tool
• Business opportunity, recommend appropriate products
• Enhance long term customer relationship

Conclusion

• KYC, KYC, KYC
• CDD, CDD, CDD
• Risk based approach
• Continual process

Case studies/Role Play:

• Onboarding process
• Transaction review
• Revisit with focus on source of wealth due diligence - “Replay the onboarding of a complex structure of 1MDB”

Assessment - MCQ

A veteran governance professional and qualified lawyer, our trainer has over 20 years of leadership experience in compliance, operational risk, and audit. She has held director-level roles at major financial institutions and led industry working groups on financial crime. She specialises in delivering compliance training with intellectual precision on regulatory obligations, AML, and conduct standards to frontline and management audiences.

A specialist in AML compliance and operational risk, our trainer has extensive experience in banking and payments environments. He has served in both business-line compliance and group-level functions, focusing on KYC, transaction monitoring, and data protection. He is an expert in translating complex regulatory policy into practical operational understanding for frontline staff, providing a grounded, practical approach to compliance education.

With over 30 years of experience, our trainer has held managing director roles in private banking compliance, treasury control, and audit at global institutions. He led AML/CFT oversight for wealth management across jurisdictions, with proven expertise in banking licenses, major mergers, and governance committees. He holds professional qualifications in accounting and compliance, and is a member of leading international AML bodies.