Anna Kostus

Anna Kostus is a financial crime regulatory expert who helps clients understand the changing supervisory landscape, build and implement strong controls and anti-financial crime capabilities.

Anna works with a diverse range of clients from banks and asset managers through to payment services providers (PSPs) and gaming operators for whom she has delivered financial crime function reviews (including several s.166 Skilled Person Reviews) and led people and projects varying from responding to regulatory events and criticism through designing financial crime controls to providing regulatory advisory and delivering process improvements.

Anna has delivered projects across a number of EMEA jurisdictions including in the UK, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.

In addition to leading larger project teams, Anna has provided clients with ongoing advisory support on a personal retainer-basis and has been seconded into interim financial crime SME roles. Most recently she helped a London-branch of a major European bank prepare for an upcoming FCA regulatory visit and respond to the regulator’s criticism.

Anna also served as a Special Advisor on Financial Crime at a mid-sized European bank where she designed the process for the assessment and approval of high-risk clients and delivered targeted financial crime training and coaching to the firm's senior management and risk-owners.

Relevant Experience:

• Delivered Financial Crime/AML Compliance Assessments for a diverse group of clients including Tier 1 banks, asset managers, PSPs, FinTechs and gaming operators
• Led the delivery and implementation of a new, harmonised, Cross-Border KYC Standards for a large European bank which covered 18 jurisdictions globally
• Designed new AML Operating Models for a range of clients including a global asset manager and a Scandinavian PSP seeking to obtain a banking license in an EU jurisdiction
• Led the development of a payment method risk assessment for one of Europe’s largest remote gaming operators
• Supported clients in the UK, Poland and Scandinavia in preparing for supervisory audits and delivering remediation plans in response to any findings raised by their respective regulators