How do I choose an AML course?
It is essential to have at least one employee on staff with an AML certificate to protect an organization from the illegal actions of financial criminals. As a rule, these can be financiers, accountants, lawyers and other employees with financial or legal education. But the question arises: how do you choose the best AML course?
The AML course will allow you to gain specific skills in detailing various financial fraud schemes and identifying illicit money transfers. Having a certified employee (or department) within the company that will be responsible for the legality of all transactions made, the head of the company will be reliably protected through competent control of financial flows. It is unlikely that any employee with only financial, economic or legal education will be able to assess the potential risks associated with the actions of financial criminals. In this case, analysis and timely response are important to prevent illegal transactions when the financial plan has not yet been fully implemented.
What should you consider when choosing an AML course?
Often, several educational institutions offer courses of the same name, and it takes a lot of effort to make a selection right away. To choose an AML course successfully, you should consider the following aspects during the comparative analysis.
What’s included in the program?
An employee who is planning to obtain an AML certificate should clearly understand what topics will be covered and what will be emphasized in the course program. As a rule, each topic has a different duration – it can be 2 hours, and only 20 minutes can be devoted to some questions. Also, courses may focus on specific areas of activity: banking, finance, or management of non-financial companies.
An essential factor is to provide examples of real cases and ways to solve them. It is also required that all course materials be provided to students in paper or electronic form. If something needs to be included in the lecture it can be filled in.
Please find out about the educational institution itself and the AML teacher
While choosing a course, it is necessary to consider its educational institution and most importantly, get to know the teacher better. The quality of teaching plays a large role in effective teaching of the material. In addition, when choosing a teacher, you need to pay attention to the following things:
- He has education and practical experience in the fight against the financial sector and identification of financial criminals;
- Age – a teacher who has recently been a student himself and has no practical experience will not be able to ensure the high quality of the course;
- Teacher Ratings – You can ask alumni how the lecturer is, read reviews and comments on the institute’s website, and inquire about the future careers of their alumni.
- Personal Opinion – If possible, it is advisable to meet the teacher in person and ask him/her questions about the course you are interested in.
The more information you collect about the teacher and his/her teaching methods, the easier it will be to make a choice.
Know what the nature of the training will be
It is better when there is opportunity for face-to-face and online training. Most students are working professionals, and attending courses in person will only occasionally be possible. The schedule is also important: for some, it is better to get certified every day and faster, while for others 2 classes per week is fine, but with a more extended completion date. Rarely, there may be mixed forms of learning – the student masters some part of the material independently. Therefore, find out about these aspects beforehand.
Number of training hours and their cost
It is recommended to inquire about teaching hours for many courses. Keeping the subject of the same name, the hourly duration of the courses can be approximately the same. But if there are significant differences, you need to familiarize yourself more carefully with the topics of the course and how much time is allotted for each topic. For some, cost may matter, so everyone chooses according to their financial capabilities.
How is the exam conducted and is it possible to retake the exam?
For many people, the test taking form is required:
- communication with the teacher;
- Answer questions in writing;
- examine.
As a rule, this is testing, but there are individual cases, so if it matters to you, it is better to find out in advance. There should be an option to retake the exam for undecided students, but there will be an additional fee.
conclusion
As you can see, in order to make the right choice in favor of one of the anti-money laundering courses under consideration, you need to consider several aspects. After all, it is high-quality training with specific examples of financial fraud that can give effective results and positively influence the future career of an inexperienced student (or businessman).