Senior Financial Crime Manager

At Verto, we’re passionate about helping businesses in Emerging markets reach the world. What first started life as a FX solution for trading Nigerian Naira has now become a market-leading platform, changing the way thousands of businesses transfer money in and out of Emerging Markets. We believe that where you do business shouldn’t determine how successful you are, or your ability to scale. Millions of companies a day have to juggle long settlement periods, high transaction fees and issues accessing liquidity in order to trade with African businesses. We’re on a mission to change this by creating equal access to easy payment and liquidity solutions that are already a given in developed markets.

We’re not alone in realising the opportunity and need to solve for emerging markets. We’re backed by world-class investors including Y-Combinator, Quona and MEVP, power payments for some of the most disruptive start-ups in the world and have a list of accolades from leading publications including being voted ‘Fintech Start Up of the Year’ at Fintech Awards London 2022. Each year we process billions of dollars of payments and provide companies with solutions which help them to save money, automate processes and grow, but we’re only just getting started.

We are seeking a Senior Financial Crime Manager to lead and strengthen our financial crime prevention and compliance efforts. This role requires a results-driven individual who will play a central role in developing and maintaining a robust financial crime framework, ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations, and actively managing financial crime risks across our FX and payments operations. You will work closely with senior leadership, product, legal, and customer support teams to ensure Verto remains compliant, secure, and efficient in its operations.

• Leadership & Framework Development

• Lead the financial crime function, ensuring alignment with AML, CTF, sanctions, fraud, and bribery laws.
• Develop, enhance, and maintain the financial crime risk and control framework in line with regulatory expectations and industry best practices.
• Conduct risk assessments and gap analyses related to financial crime and emerging risks.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders on system implementations, regtech, and product development.

• Oversee the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) process, ensuring timely and accurate submissions.
• Manage chargeback processes, complaints handling, and indemnities, working to mitigate financial loss.
• Lead fraud detection and prevention initiatives, leveraging data analytics to reduce risk.
• Review and respond to queries from law enforcement, banking partners, and regulators.
• Oversee financial crime-related investigations and reporting, collaborating with external and internal stakeholders.

• Maintain financial crime policies and procedures, ensuring clarity and regulatory alignment.
• Produce MI and reports for senior management, the board, and external bodies.
• Act as the point of contact for CIFAS, overseeing all related tasks and responsibilities.
• Own and manage the compliance inbox, ensuring queries are actioned and escalated appropriately.

• Develop and deliver AML/CTF training company-wide.
• Ensure all employees understand their obligations in relation to financial crime and reporting.

• Stay informed on regulatory changes and industry developments through horizon scanning.
• Represent Verto at industry events and maintain strong relationships with regulators, law enforcement, and banking partners.
• Complete regulatory and banking partner questionnaires as needed.

• Establish a strong, scalable financial crime framework.
• Improve SAR efficiency and accuracy.
• Reduce false positives in transaction monitoring.
• Build a streamlined process for complaints, chargebacks, and fraud handling.
• Enhance financial crime MI reporting and automation.
• Foster productive external relationships with key stakeholders and partners.

• Minimum 3 years in a Financial Crime/AML role within an FCA-regulated firm.
• University degree in Law, Finance, Risk, or related field preferred.
• Professional certifications such as ICA or ACAMS (essential).
• Strong working knowledge of relevant regulations: MLR, POCA, JMLSG, and sanctions regimes.
• Experience with SARs, fraud, transaction monitoring, and handling complaints/chargebacks.
• Skilled in using tools like Jira; experience with AI-based AML systems a plus.
• Excellent communication, analytical, and stakeholder management skills.
• Familiarity with complex corporate structures and beneficial ownership unwrapping.