Ian Stuart Keedy

KYC expertise was developed as a Pensions/Internal Audit Officer, further enhanced through dedicated roles in KYC/Compliance in Malta. Current position as Compliance Officer utilises skills from previous roles as AML & RG Specialist, Assistant Compliance Manager, and Senior KYC Analyst. Proven ability to navigate regulatory environments, with a focus on detail and compliance standards.

Strong background in Leadership, Performance Management, and advanced proficiency in Microsoft Word/Excel, complemented by diverse sales experience from 1995 to 2010.

Compliance Officer at Realm Entertainment Limited (2024-04 – Present)

• Ensure full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
• Adhere strictly to customer due diligence requirements.
• Conduct ongoing, thorough monitoring of players and transactions to ensure compliance.
• Tailor efforts to respective risk levels with certainty.
• Perform checks against Politically Exposed Persons and sanction lists.
• Evaluate and identify suspicious behaviour or unusual activities.
• Promptly report findings to the FIAU on behalf of the MLRO.
• Support due diligence processes for all B2B suppliers without hesitation.
• Contribute to the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal AML/CFT compliance manuals, policies, procedures, and systems with assurance.
• Suggest improvements to existing processes and controls. - Developed a comprehensive Source of Wealth calculator template, structuring and documenting procedures.
• Assist in developing an AML training program with a clear vision.
• Raise awareness within the Compliance department.
• Develop a culture of compliance throughout the organisation with confidence and positive reinforcement.
• Undertake a project that will benefit the department and company as a whole. - Project focusing on developing and implementing an all-in-one spreadsheet to produce automated reports on risk-based reviews for the legal department.

AML & RG Specialist at Kindred Group (2023-10 – 2024-02)

• Investigated customers identified by RG and AML models, thoroughly examining potential risks.
• Conducted comprehensive customer risk assessments, including scrutiny of the source of wealth, and implemented measures to maintain sustainable spending levels.
• Identified and mitigated customer compliance risks through proactive account action, document requests, and additional checks.
• Contributed to continuously refining the money laundering framework, focusing on monitoring, detection, investigation, and the KYC process.
• Reported SARs & STRs to the MLRO.
• Stayed abreast of money laundering and terrorist financing issues, including policies, regulations, industry best practices, criminal typologies, and emerging trends.
• Liaised with external teams, particularly Customer Service, managing all escalations to minimise contacts for desired efficient first-contact resolution.
• Provided training and support to new team members and personnel from other departments.
• Successfully investigated and resolved a high volume of customer alerts, contributing to the overall effectiveness of the AML program.
• Implemented streamlined processes for customer risk assessments, resulting in improved efficiency and accuracy.

Assistant Compliance Manager at Arringo Limited (2022-11 – 2023-10)

• Managed the day-to-day line activities, whilst prioritising and making risk assessments using existing procedures towards achieving vital SLAs.
• Ongoing feedback is essential from members of the team to help implement improvements in processes and procedures.
• This includes escalations of any issues within the team, which must be dealt with immediately.
• Working closely with the team is of great importance, leading the way to motivating and coaching effectively.
• Ongoing issues are reported immediately, whilst ideas and suggestions are reported promptly to the Compliance Manager.
• Each month, the preparation and delivery of monthly billing reports are required to ensure the accounts team receives vital and correct information.
• Daily, weekly and monthly reports are required by customers as per their requests, and without delay.
• Occasionally, the IT Department required support in testing new features to raise any operational issues and possibly propose new features/changes to the systems.
• For essential quality assurance, a bespoke spreadsheet was developed to directly mirror the compliance policy of AML and CFT during an application.
• This monitors and records an agent's work to track their KPIs. This was sent as constructive feedback to uniquely encourage each team member.
• The Compliance Manager was given feedback on all reviews and whether any improvements should be made.
• Flexibility is essential in this environment, and employees are encouraged to assist with and support ad-hoc projects in other areas of the business.
• I was tasked with developing a Quality Assurance department from inception, which included developing procedures, creating a manual, and selecting an appropriate team member to lead it.

Senior KYC Analyst at Arringo Limited (2021-05 – 2022-10)

• The first point of call for the team's compliance and due diligence queries.
• Duties, amongst others, included auditing the team's work and reporting to the team leader.
• Training was provided regularly, and mentoring was required for new team members.
• Working with an online start-up bank attracted a vast amount of interest from all kinds of individuals and companies attempting to be onboarded.
• In the first months of operation, 90% of applicants were rejected due to false or highly suspicious documents.
• To streamline the verification process, a spreadsheet was created that mirrors the bank's compliance policy.
• For some actions, a prompt is given to inform the agent of the next action.
• Alongside this, an email template was composed which addresses every possible scenario.
• The spreadsheet and email template work harmoniously to reduce the time required for the preparation and reporting of issues.
• To ensure a consistent team response, a company knowledge base was developed, which details procedures and provides guidance to help identify fake documents.
• Procedures were created using the UK banking regulations surrounding the onboarding of customers.
• During this time, I was chosen for an outsourced supervisory position in an investment company. This had become an urgent requirement to ensure all case files, approximately 1000, were fully compliant.
• To begin with, managing a small team of two compliance officers, which increased to five, to meet tight deadlines.
• Using online skills with the start-up bank to transfer to a paper-based approach.
• During the 12-month secondment, I received an invaluable education into a total approach to compliance and management.

KYC Agent at Arringo Limited (2019-09 – 2021-04)

• Thoroughly inspect KYC documents for online forex brokers.
• Implement procedures and processes to mitigate risk.
• When identifying forgeries, they are to be reported to the department head.
• Sometimes, contacting clients via telephone or email is essential to determine any risk to the business.
• Mentor and train new starters.
• My role expanded to deal with payments of accounts and any possible issues within, such as an inconsistent IP address when matched with the customer's POA.

Pensions, Internal Audit and Payments Officer at National Health Service (2010-05 – 2019-09)

• Pensions - Calculating pensions either in person or via email/telephone, problem-solving, KYC verification, fraud prevention, and customer service, including dealing with complaints and resolutions, data management, and data security, along with Excel-Word-Outlook proficiency.
• I was solely responsible for managing the department, which served 6,000 members.
• As an Internal Audit and Payments Officer, I processed claims, conducted regular audits to detect potential fraudulent submissions, generated reports for managers to identify trends, and carried out authorisation and payments.

Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance – International Compliance Association (ICA) (2024-10 – 2025-05)

Certificate in Compliance – International Compliance Association (ICA) (2023-01 – 2023-04)

BTEC Higher National Diploma in Science (Sport Studies) – Newcastle College - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (1995-09 – 1997-06)

BTEC Higher National Certificate in Business and Information Technology – ITEC North East - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (1991-09 – 1993-05)