AML Sanctions Compliance

AML and sanctions compliance refers to the controls organizations use to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion and other forms of financial crime.

AML controls usually include customer verification, customer risk assessment, beneficial ownership checks, transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting, recordkeeping and employee training. Sanctions compliance focuses on identifying restricted persons, entities, countries, transactions, goods and services before an organization conducts prohibited business.

Read our complete guide to AML compliance for a broader explanation of how these controls work together.

AML is the wider framework used to prevent, identify and report money laundering and terrorist-financing risks.

KYC, or Know Your Customer, is one component of AML. It focuses on verifying a customer’s identity, understanding the purpose of the relationship and assessing the customer’s risk profile.

Sanctions compliance focuses on ensuring that an organization does not conduct prohibited transactions or make funds or economic resources available to restricted persons, entities or jurisdictions.

Our guide to KYC versus AML explains the distinction in more detail.

The three commonly recognized stages of money laundering are placement, layering and integration.

Placement involves introducing criminal proceeds into the financial system. Layering uses transfers, accounts, businesses or other transactions to obscure the origin of the funds. Integration returns the funds to the legitimate economy so that they appear to come from lawful activities.

The course also examines how modern methods involving shell companies, international payments, digital assets and trade transactions can make these stages more difficult to identify.

The course covers:

• Money laundering and terrorist-financing methods
• French AML laws and European regulatory frameworks
• Customer due diligence and identity verification
• KYC, beneficial ownership and hidden control structures
• Politically exposed persons and high-risk customers
• Enhanced due diligence
• EU and UN sanctions programmes
• Sanctions screening and watchlist controls
• Cross-border payments and correspondent banking
• Transaction monitoring and alert review
• AML red flags and internal investigations
• Suspicious activity escalation and TRACFIN reporting
• Cryptocurrency, ransomware and cyber-enabled financial crime
• Trade-based money laundering and shell companies
• Compliance governance, audits and regulatory inspections
• Artificial intelligence, automation and the European AMLA framework

AML training is mandatory for organizations and professionals subject to the relevant French anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist-financing obligations.

This does not mean that every business or every employee in France must complete the same course. Training should be appropriate to the organization’s activities, financial crime exposure and the responsibilities of the personnel concerned.

Regulated organizations should also maintain evidence of training and provide updates when risks, procedures or regulations change. Read our guide to AML training requirements in France for further guidance.

Completing this course can support an organization’s training programme, but it does not by itself guarantee regulatory compliance.

The course is suitable for:

• AML and sanctions compliance professionals
• KYC and customer onboarding teams
• Financial crime analysts
• Transaction monitoring analysts
• Banking and payment-services employees
• Fintech compliance teams
• Risk and internal-control professionals
• Internal auditors
• Cross-border payment teams
• Correspondent banking personnel
• Compliance managers and team leaders
• Professionals working with high-risk customers
• Employees involved in international transactions
• Professionals working with crypto-assets or digital payments

It may also benefit managers who supervise teams responsible for customer verification, payment approval, transaction monitoring or regulatory reporting.

Yes. The course page does not require previous AML, sanctions, banking or compliance experience.

It begins with the foundations of financial crime and gradually progresses to KYC, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, investigations, governance and emerging risks.

A general interest in compliance, banking, payments, financial crime prevention, customer onboarding or risk management may make the material easier to apply.

KYC means Know Your Customer and refers to the process of identifying and verifying a customer.

CDD, or Customer Due Diligence, involves collecting sufficient information to understand the customer, the purpose of the business relationship, the expected activity and the associated risk.

EDD, or Enhanced Due Diligence, involves additional checks where the customer, transaction, ownership structure, jurisdiction or activity presents a higher level of risk.

The course explains how these processes support risk-based customer onboarding and ongoing monitoring.

Yes. The course covers politically exposed persons, high-risk customers, enhanced due diligence, beneficial ownership and hidden corporate control structures.

A politically exposed person may present increased corruption or abuse-of-office risks because of a prominent public function. This does not mean that every PEP is involved in criminal activity, but it may require stronger risk assessment and monitoring.

Beneficial ownership checks help an organization identify the natural persons who ultimately own, control or benefit from a company or legal arrangement.

Sanctions screening is the process of checking customers, beneficial owners, counterparties, transactions and other relevant parties against applicable sanctions and asset-freezing lists.

A potential name match should not automatically be treated as a confirmed sanctions breach. It normally requires careful review of identifying information, ownership, control, geography and the transaction context.

The course examines EU sanctions, UN measures, watchlist controls, alert review, escalation, cross-border restrictions and sanctions-evasion methods.

Professionals seeking more specialised sanctions knowledge can also review the Certificate in Sanctions Compliance course.

Yes. The curriculum covers suspicious activity reporting requirements, internal escalation, investigations and TRACFIN reporting obligations.

Learners examine how suspicious activity may be identified, documented, reviewed and escalated within an organization. The course also explains the role of French regulatory and enforcement bodies within the wider AML framework.

For a broader overview of the authorities and obligations involved, read AML Regulations in France Explained.

The course provides educational guidance and does not replace an organization’s internal reporting procedures or professional legal advice about a specific case.

AML transaction monitoring is the review of customer activity to identify transactions or behavioural patterns that differ from expected activity or indicate possible financial crime.

Monitoring systems may examine transaction size, frequency, geography, counterparties, payment channels, customer history and other risk indicators. Alerts should then be reviewed using customer information and the wider context of the activity.

Learn more in our guide, AML Transaction Monitoring Explained.

The course examines red flags connected with:

• Unusual or unexplained transaction patterns
• Complex ownership structures
• Shell companies
• High-risk customers and jurisdictions
• Sanctions-evasion techniques
• Cross-border payments
• Correspondent banking
• Cryptocurrency and digital assets
• Ransomware and cyber fraud
• Trade-based money laundering
• Hidden financial flows
• Corruption and organized criminal networks

A red flag does not automatically prove criminal activity. It is an indicator that may require further review, documentation, enhanced due diligence or escalation.

Yes. Risk-based decision-making is integrated throughout the course.

Learners examine customer risks, ownership risks, geographic exposure, products, payment channels, international transactions, digital assets and emerging financial crime threats.

An AML risk assessment helps an organization decide where stronger controls, monitoring or due diligence may be necessary. Our guide to AML risk assessment best practices provides additional implementation guidance.

Yes. The curriculum covers cryptocurrency, digital assets, ransomware, cyber fraud, digital banking risks and emerging AML challenges.

It also examines how remote onboarding, digital identity risks, international transfers and complex technology-enabled transactions can be exploited to move or conceal criminal proceeds.

The course does not teach cryptocurrency trading. It focuses on identifying and managing financial crime and compliance risks involving digital assets.

The course can help learners understand the major components of an AML compliance programme, including governance, risk assessment, customer due diligence, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, internal investigations, reporting, audits and employee awareness.

However, an operational AML programme must be tailored to the organization’s sector, regulatory status, products, customers, geography and risk exposure.

For practical implementation guidance, read How to Build an AML Compliance Program.

The course contains six structured sections and approximately 3.5 hours of learning content.

It is delivered fully online and can be accessed from mobile and desktop devices. Learners receive one-year access, allowing them to complete the course at their own pace and revisit the material during the access period.

Yes. The course includes seven exercises and one final quiz.

After successfully completing the course, learners receive a free Certificate of Completion from the French Compliance Institute.

The certificate demonstrates that the learner completed structured AML and sanctions compliance training. It should not be described as a government licence, regulated professional qualification or authorization to submit reports on behalf of an organization.

The course can strengthen the knowledge required for AML, KYC, sanctions, transaction-monitoring and financial crime roles. However, completing one short course does not automatically qualify someone for every AML Compliance Officer position.

Employers may also consider professional experience, sector knowledge, investigation skills, regulatory understanding, formal qualifications and familiarity with internal compliance systems.

Our AML Compliance Officer guide explains the responsibilities and skills commonly associated with the role.

The most suitable next step depends on the area you want to specialise in.

For a deeper focus on operational AML procedures, KYC, transaction monitoring and TRACFIN reporting, consider the Certificate in AML Compliance Training.

For specialist knowledge of international restrictions, asset freezes, screening, ownership and control, consider the Certificate in Sanctions Compliance.

Professionals who also manage bribery, corruption, third-party and Sapin II risks may continue with the Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Training.