Job Description

At abrdn, our purpose is to enable our clients to be better investors.

Clients worldwide trust us to find future-fit investment opportunities to deliver the outcomes they want. Our technology and insight help empower them to make better decisions, while the powerful partnerships we build help to enhance the expertise that we offer. And by enabling clients to invest responsibly, it helps us to build a better world.

About the department

Putting our clients at the centre of everything we do applies to all our practices. We need to ensure that we have a smooth client onboarding, as well as a robust on-going governance, particularly when it comes to client due diligence and management of risk.

With a focus on strengthening oversight and control of these activities, as well as transforming our end-to-end approach for Clients, a Client Risk and Governance team has been created, reporting to the Chief Client Officer within Client Group.

About the role

As Head of KYC Ops UK, you will get the opportunity to be a KYC Lead to lead the 1st Line of defence (1LOD) UK Team with a focus on the accuracy of AML due diligence of the global network of institutional clients, distributors, B2B sub-distributors, business introducers, but also supporting other due diligence obligations (e.g., on intragroup entities);

Key Responsibilities

• Responsibility for overseeing the KYC local team’s daily operation, allocating and tracking case assignments and ensure that the applicable regulatory and statutory obligations are met;

• Perform quality review and ensuring that KYC records adhere to abrdn standards.

• Act as a first level of escalation for the local KYC Operations team and as contact point for the local AFC team;

• Prepare management information for internal reporting (e.g. aIL Exco, aIL Board, aIL sub-committees, Fund Boards) and contribute to regulatory reporting;

• Contribute to improve the data management with the scope of recognising patterns and possibilities to enhance the client experience and ensure the regulatory requirements are met;

• Contribute to the technological implementation and automation of the processes (e.g., use of data base, etc.,);

• Review and improve of internal templates, policies and procedures.

About the candidate requirements

• Strong knowledge of KYC/CDD/EDD, QC, Suitability and AML and delegate compliance regulations;

• Good understanding of technological innovation and curios on the implementation of automation/artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) in compliance;

• Team player with the ability to manage a small team of SMEs and provide training and coaching; previous management experience required

• Proactive approach to problem solving, taking ownership of issues and proposing new solutions;

• Good drafting and presentation skills.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. Therefore, if you have a disability and would like to apply to one of our UK roles under the Disability Confident Scheme, please notify us by completing the relevant section in our candidate questionnaire and one of our team will reach out to support you through your application process.

Our benefits

There's more to working life than coming home with a good salary. We have an environment where you can learn, get involved and be supported.

When you join us, your reward will be one of the best around. This includes 40 days’ annual leave, a 16% employer pension contribution, a discretionary performance based bonus (where applicable), private healthcare and a range of flexible benefits – including gym discounts, season ticket loans and access to an employee discount portal. You can read more about our benefits here.

Our business

Enabling our clients to be better investors drives everything we do. Our business is structured around three distinct areas – our vectors of growth – focused on our clients’ changing needs. You can find out more about what we do here.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive workplace where all forms of difference are valued and which is free from any form of unfair or unlawful treatment.  We define diversity in its broadest sense – this includes but is not limited to our diversity of educational and professional backgrounds, experience, cognitive and neurodiversity, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief and ethnicity and geographical provenance.  We support a culture that values meritocracy, fairness and transparency and welcomes enquiries from everyone.

If you need assistance or an adjustment due to a disability please let us know as part of your application and we will assist.