Financial Crime Compliance
Independent financial crime advisory, assurance and investigative support across AML, counter-terrorist financing, sanctions, PEPs, beneficial ownership and enhanced due diligence.
We help organisations identify financial crime exposure, strengthen their compliance frameworks and demonstrate effective governance to regulators, investors and business partners.
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Why Choose TenIntelligence?
TenIntelligence provides independent financial crime advisory and compliance support across anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF), sanctions compliance, politically exposed person (PEP) screening, Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) analysis, customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence and cryptoasset risk assessments.
We also support organisations in meeting regulatory obligations under frameworks including the FCA, UK Money Laundering Regulations, Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), FCPA and the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR).
Our evidence-based approach helps regulated organisations strengthen financial crime controls, demonstrate compliance, support regulatory enquiries and build long-term organisational resilience.
We support financial institutions, cryptoasset businesses, multinational organisations, investors, legal advisers and compliance teams in strengthening financial crime controls, meeting regulatory obligations and managing financial crime risk with confidence.
How TenIntelligence can help:
- AML/CTF frameworks and regulatory compliance support
- Enhanced Due Diligence across high-risk jurisdictions
- Crypto due diligence and investor assurance
- Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) analysis
- Politically Exposed Person (PEP) and sanctions screening
UBO analysis identifies the true individuals who control or benefit from a business, reducing the risk of hidden ownership, corruption, and money laundering. Accurate, audited, and up-to-date information on beneficial owners is essential in deterring financial crime and uncovering individuals who may attempt to conceal their identity behind complex corporate structures.
A beneficial owner is any natural person who ultimately owns or controls the customer. Under most Anti-Money Laundering (AML) directives, a shareholding of 25% or more (by a natural person or corporate entity) is considered an indicator of ownership. Organisations may, however, apply stricter thresholds depending on their own risk-based criteria.
In rare cases, where all other identification measures are exhausted and no suspicion arises, senior managing officials may be treated as the beneficial owners.
How can we help?
- As part of the risk-based approach, we help organisations reduce the likelihood of financial crime, assisting with customer and enhanced due diligence
- identify the customer and verify the customer’s identity on the basis of documents, data or information obtained from a reliable and independent source
- take reasonable measures to verify the beneficial owner’s identity
- take reasonable measures to understand the ownership and control structure of the customer
- verify the control structure and ultimate beneficial owner
- conduct ongoing monitoring of the business relationship including scrutiny of transactions undertaken throughout the course of that relationship to ensure compliance
- verify that any person purporting to act on behalf of the customer is authorised and identify and verify the identity of that person
Regulatory Compliance equips organisations to meet financial services regulations, market listing rules, and governance standards. It provides assurance that directors, shareholders, and senior managers meet “Fit and Proper” requirements while maintaining investor and regulator confidence.
Who is it valuable for?
Nominated Advisers, brokers, venture capital and private equity firms, corporate finance teams, listed companies, and regulated financial institutions.
What We Cover
- Compliance with FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR)
- AIM (London Stock Exchange) director/shareholder compliance checks
- Anti-corruption and anti-money laundering policy alignment
- FCPA compliance programme design and implementation
- Background checks for regulated financial services providers
- Management Due Diligence (MDD) with regulatory references
- Cyber risk assessments and ICT due diligence
When assessing the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, organisations must check whether any high-risk factors apply. Failure to do so can expose them to regulatory breaches, reputational damage, and financial crime.
What we cover
If your Organisation is dealing with individuals or companies established in high-risk jurisdictions, or exposed to other cases of high risk, we help can help identify:
- The areas of risk and apply enhanced due diligence measures to manage and mitigate those risks appropriately.
- Whether any business relationships are conducted in unusual circumstances
- Customers that operate in geographical areas of higher risk, including areas with no AML/CTF legislation, significant corruption, UN sanctions, or links to designated terrorist organisations
- Whether any individuals are using personal asset-holding vehicles
- Customers who only have nominee shareholders or shares
- If any customers are cash-intensive
- Ownership structures of customers that appear unusual or excessively complex given the nature of their business
- Whether any business relationships are based on anonymity
- If your organisation has received funds from unknown parties
Who is it valuable for?
Banks, insurers, multinational corporates, crypto platforms, regulated entities, and compliance teams operating in high-risk sectors or regions.
Crypto Due Diligence reduces risks linked to anonymity, fraud, and regulatory uncertainty in digital asset markets. It verifies counterparties, platforms, and developers to protect investors and ensure compliance with evolving global standards.
Who it’s valuable for
Crypto platforms, investors, ICOs, VASPs, fintech companies, and regulators.
What We Cover
- Enhanced Due Diligence through discreet references and industry insight interviews
- Background checks on ICO and crypto platform management
- Verification of ownership, directors, and developers
- Transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting
- AML/CTF checks for ICOs, VAs, and VASPs
- Fraud prevention measures and source of funds verification
When dealing with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), organisations are required to implement risk-based procedures to determine whether a customer, or their ultimate beneficial owner qualifies as a PEP. Approval from senior management to establish or continue business relationships with PEPs is required.
How can we help Your Organisation stay PEP compliant?
We support your Orgnaisation in meeting PEP compliance obligations by:
- checking and verifying sanction lists and registers to identify PEPs, close associates and subjects of interest
- establishing the source of wealth or funds that are involved in business relationships or transactions with PEPs
- conducting enhanced, ongoing monitoring of business relationships with PEPs
Important Notes
- Post-office monitoring: If a PEP is no longer in a prominent public role, organisations must continue enhanced due diligence for at least 12 months, until the PEP is considered to no longer pose a risk.
- Preventative measures: EU Directive measures are preventative, not criminal. Being a PEP does not imply involvement in wrongdoing.
- Fair engagement: While PEPs carry higher risk due to their exposure to corruption, organisations should not automatically refuse a business relationship based solely on PEP status, doing so would go against the ethos of the Directive.
- Extended scope: EU Directive measures also apply to family members and known close associates of PEPs.
Insights & Case Studies
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What Russia’s shadow fleet reveals about sanctions risk
Sanctions screening is an established part of assessing third-party risk. A counterparty and other relevant parties are checked against applicable sanctions lists, potential matches are investigated, and the findings help inform decisions about whether and how to proceed. However, what should be done when the screening outcome is straightforward, yet the broader relationship remains ambiguous?…
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How FCA and Data Protection Complaints Handling Intersect?
After nearly two decades in compliance, I have come to the conclusion that FCA complaints and data protection complaints have more in common than most people realise. Before anyone starts drafting an objection, I am not suggesting they are the same thing. They aren’t. They are covered by different laws. They involve different rights, create…
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Social Media Data Collection: Protecting Customer Data
Social media is everywhere, in healthcare, finance, education, retail, and government. If your organisation uses platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or Facebook, you are almost certainly handling personal data. That means you must follow data protection laws like the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), along with, where relevant, the EU AI…
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Outsourced AML Compliance Support – GCC
An GCC organisation required ongoing anti-money laundering support to strengthen its financial crime compliance framework and provide additional specialist capacity to its internal team.
The client needed a proportionate, risk-based approach that would support day-to-day compliance activity, improve governance and provide senior management with greater assurance over its AML controls.
TenIntelligence was appointed to provide outsourced AML compliance support, working alongside the client’s legal, compliance and operational teams.
The client gained access to experienced financial crime compliance support without needing to build a larger permanent internal function.
The engagement strengthened consistency across AML decision-making, improved the documentation and escalation of higher-risk matters and provided senior management with clearer oversight of the organisation’s financial crime exposure.
TenIntelligence continues to provide independent challenge and practical support, helping the client maintain a compliance framework proportionate to its operations, customers and geographic risk.
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Large-Scale UBO, PEP and Sanctions Screening Programme
An international organisation needed to conduct a large-scale review of its customer and supplier population to identify ultimate beneficial owners and assess potential exposure to politically exposed persons, sanctions and other financial crime risks.
The available records differed considerably in quality and completeness. Some entities had complex or cross-border ownership structures, while other records did not contain sufficient information to establish who ultimately owned or controlled the organisation.
TenIntelligence developed a structured corporate screening and risk-review process covering the client’s customer and supplier lists.
Cases were prioritised according to factors including jurisdiction, ownership complexity, available information and the nature of the relationship with the client.
The review gave the client a clearer understanding of the individuals behind its customer and supplier relationships and identified records requiring remediation, enhanced due diligence or further management consideration.
By resolving false positives and highlighting genuine risk indicators, TenIntelligence helped the client focus its compliance resources where they were most needed. The resulting audit trail also provided a stronger basis for ongoing monitoring, periodic review and risk-based decision-making.
Frequently Asked Questions
Financial crime compliance helps organisations prevent, detect and respond to money laundering, fraud, sanctions breaches and other financial crime risks. Effective compliance combines governance, risk management and proportionate controls to meet regulatory obligations and protect organisational integrity.
If your organisation operates in a regulated sector, conducts international business or works with higher-risk customers or jurisdictions, independent financial crime compliance support can help strengthen controls, reduce regulatory risk and demonstrate accountability.
We provide independent advisory and compliance support across AML, CTF, sanctions, PEP screening, UBO analysis, customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence, cryptoasset due diligence and financial crime investigations, tailored to your organisation’s risk profile and regulatory obligations.
Yes. We support organisations across the UK, UAE and multiple international jurisdictions, helping them manage cross-border financial crime risks, strengthen compliance frameworks and meet local and international regulatory requirements.
Financial crime compliance forms part of our Governance, Risk, Investigations & Compliance (GRIC) Advisory. By integrating governance, risk management, investigations and compliance, we help organisations strengthen financial crime controls and build long-term organisational resilience.