Sanctions Analyst (OFAC/BSA) - Metropolitan Commercial Bank

Come work with us:

Metropolitan Commercial Bank (the "Bank") is a New York City based full-service commercial bank that provides a broad range of business, commercial and personal banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, private and public middle-market and corporate enterprises and institutions, municipalities and local government entities. The Bank operates banking centers and private client offices in Manhattan and Boro Park, Brooklyn in New York City and Great Neck on Long Island in New York State.

The Bank is a New York State chartered commercial bank, a member of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and an equal housing lender. The parent company of Metropolitan Commercial Bank is Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE: MCB).

For more information, please visit the Bank's website at MCBankNY.com.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank was named one of Newsweek's Best Regional Banks and Credit Unions 2024. The Bank was ranked by Independent Community Bankers of America among the top ten successful loan producers for 2023 by loan category and asset size for commercial banks with more than $1 billion in assets. The Bank finished ninth in S&P Global Market Intelligence's annual ranking of the best-performing community banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion for 2022 and eighth among top-performing community banks in the Northeast region for 2022.

About the role:

The primary function of this position is to support the BSA/AML QCA Officer in performing QCA reviews of the Bank's BSA/AML and OFAC Program. This includes planning and conducting reviews across multiple BSA/AML and OFAC processes and recommending changes to mitigate risk and minimize impact of identified deficiencies.

Duties and responsibilities of the job include the following (but is not limited too):

• Autonomously, accurately, and effectively conduct BSA/AML, and OFAC related QCA reviews across different products and services.
• Review sampled alerts to determine false positives/positive matches for sanctions, negative news, PEP (politically-exposed persons), and internal watch-lists, to ensure that the appropriate decisions and recommendations have been made according to department standards, that the appropriate supporting documentation is obtained, and that any decision made is appropriately supported and documented in accordance with established standards.
• Review various departments' processes to ensure OFAC compliance.
• Review data from all BSA & AML related processes, including 314(a) & 314(b) information sharing, Currency Transaction and SAR reporting.
• Identify and document in a clear and concise manner, potential and emerging BSA/AML/OFAC risks through detailed analyze and recommend effective solutions.
• Partner with business units to remediate findings identified in QCA reviews and ensure that corrective action is taken within specified timeframes.
• Maintain QCA standards and procedures, including risk-based standards for testing, and report quality control findings into QCA database/logs accurately and in a timely manner.
• Generate related reports, including findings and trends for Senior Management in a thorough and timely manner.
• Exhibit high quality performance to ensure review and work papers adhere to internal standards and expectations.
• Assist in mentoring initiatives, including the development of training materials, job aids and equivalent tools for driving consistency and quality.
• Maintain knowledge of developments in the area of OFAC and anti-money laundering rules and regulations and the associated BSA/AML and sanctions risks ensuring QCA standards and procedures are up to date, recommend changes and/or alternatives for process improvements.
• Support the QCA Officer in performing duties, such as reviewing of policies and procedures, preparing the testing and review schedule and metrices summarizing the work performed by the QCA Team.
• Perform special projects, and additional duties and responsibilities as required.

Preferred experience, education, and qualifications:

• Bachelor degree or equivalent work experience
• Diverse and in-depth understanding of BSA/AML and OFAC rules, regulations, and best practices. 
• Knowledge of trends/typologies in money laundering and fraud schemes.
• Excellent investigative, analytical, and problem resolution skills with the ability to understand and draw conclusions from research conducted.
• Strong time management and organizational skills to prioritize and complete deliverables in a timely and effective manner.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to work effectively with others at all levels across the Bank and Partners.
• Proficiency in MS Office; Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Experience with automated transaction monitoring system Verafin a plus.
• Knowledge of CIP/KYC Customer Onboarding and High-Risk EDD reviews a plus.

Potential Salary: $95,000 - $105,000 annually

This salary range only reflects base wages and does not include benefits, bonus, or incentive pay. Salary bands are purposefully wide ranging to encompass the different factors considered in determining where a candidate falls in the range, including but not limited to, seniority, performance, experience, education, and any other legitimate, non-discriminatory factor permitted by law.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.