Joanna Jenkins, Head of Compliance at Railsbank, a leading UK-based open-banking and RegTech platform, has been promoted to a Vice Chair of the ACAMS UK Chapter.
Katarine Cook, who is Head of Compliance and MLRO for Europe Arab Bank in London, was also made a Vice Chair. Nicholas Joseph, Global Head of Client Intelligence Unit for Deutsche Bank, was made Chair.
ACAMS (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) is the largest international not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to enhancing the knowledge, skills and expertise of AML/CTF and financial crime detection and prevention professionals. Joanna first become a member of the organisation in 2015.
As well as her role at Railsbank, Joanna is also a member of the RegTech Council, Chaired by PJ di Giammarino from JWG and hosted by the FCA. Here her focus is looking at how RegTech can help with the implementation of the fifth money laundering directive which comes in to place January 2020.
Joanna said: “ACAMS enjoys an international reputation for training and career progression within this highly specialist field.and resonates with my responsibilities at Railsbank as Head of Compliance. It is a great honour to be made a Vice Chair of the ACAMS UK Chapter and I look forward to my tenure which will last for an initial one year.”
“Our goal is to provide a forum for ACAMS members and non-members to stay ahead of financial crime compliance issues. Our main channels of communication are via events and we have been raising ACAMS’ profile by arranging quality chapter meetings, often sponsored. These are based on selected topics, which are supported by the relevant experts who generate discussion and debate.
“In March we had our most successful meeting to date, with the topic ' How RegTech can help fight against financial crime.' It was sponsored by Bloomberg and held at their new offices. I arranged and chaired the panel, which included Nick Cook, Head of RegTech at the FCA.”
“Our next topic, ‘Counter terrorist funding - Finding a needle in a haystack,’ was sold out in 24 hours. It takes place on Tuesday 13 November and is chaired David Rowe-Francis, UK Head of AML, HSBC (UK), and speakers include Dr Samir Puri, a lecturer in War Studies, King’s College London.”
Before Railsbank, Joanna was the European compliance director and money laundering reporting officer at AFEX, a global payments and currency risk management firm. She was responsible for the European branches and subsidiaries and overseeing the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) programmes for the UK, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Jersey. Joanna started her career at Bank of America and gained most of her AML experience at Deutsche Bank where she was the UK client on-boarding manager for Corporate Finance, Transaction Banking and Capital Markets. She studied at Harberdashers and has a joint bachelor’s degree in Italian and business studies from University College London—her third year was spent at the University of Bologna where she studied international law. Next year’s 4th Annual Meeting of European Chapter Boards will take place in Berlin on Tuesday 11 June 2019, with the main conference scheduled for Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June.
Photograph shows: Joanna Jenkins (far left) at the Bloomberg Head Offices in March