Financial Crimes, Supervision & Compliance

Program Description

In a globalized wealth environment, understanding and preventing financial crime is as important as growing wealth itself. This program examines how money laundering, tax evasion and other malpractices threaten private banks, family offices and advisors. And it delivers the tools to combat them.

The journey covers the international framework of supervision and compliance: from the FATF's 40 Recommendations to FATCA, CRS, the USA Patriot Act, the European Union's AML directives and the UIF in Mexico. Participants study the architecture of an effective AML program — KYC, enhanced due diligence, transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting — and the dual role of offshore structures: lawful when the beneficiary declares them, attractive for hiding assets when they do not.

The program closes with a workshop of practical cases based on true events: the Panama Papers, HSBC México, Danske Bank, the record fine imposed on BNP Paribas. Upon completion, participants will have developed sound judgment to distinguish legitimate financial planning from money laundering schemes, and to protect both their client's reputation and that of their institution.

General Objective

Develop sound judgment to identify, prevent and manage the financial crimes that threaten wealth management — from money laundering to terrorist financing, fraud, corruption and sanctions evasion — mastering the global supervision and compliance framework (AML/CFT) and private banking best practices, so that clients' wealth never ends up caught in international scandals.

Learning Objectives

• 01Identify the main typologies of financial crime affecting wealth management: money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, sanctions evasion and corruption.
• 02Understand the money laundering cycle: placement, layering and integration.
• 03Master the global AML/CFT regulatory framework: the FATF's 40 Recommendations, FATCA, CRS, the USA Patriot Act, the EU's AMLD directives and the UIF in Mexico.
• 04Analyze how tax havens and offshore structures operate: trusts, shell companies and fideicomisos in jurisdictions such as the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland or Delaware.
• 05Distinguish between legitimate tax and wealth optimization strategies and illicit schemes for concealing funds.
• 06Apply private banking compliance best practices: KYC/KYT/KYB, risk segmentation and PEPs, monitoring of unusual transactions and suspicious activity reporting.
• 07Value ethics and a culture of compliance as assets that protect the reputation of both the client and the institution.

Why Take This Program

1. First-rate faculty: Sandro García-Rojas, former regulator and supervisor of the Mexican financial system at the CNBV and Mexico's representative before the UN, FATF, the OECD and the Council of Europe.
2. Alejandro Santoyo, partner at Ritch Mueller with more than 30 years of experience, recognized as Tax Lawyer of the Year by the Legal 500 Awards 2023 and ranked top tier by Chambers Global and Chambers Latam.
3. A seven-block syllabus covering the full cycle of financial crime: from the threat landscape to international sanctions.
4. Real cases in the classroom: the Panama Papers, HSBC's Mexican subsidiary, Danske Bank and the record USD 8.9 billion fine imposed on BNP Paribas.
5. Final workshop of practical cases: participants analyze complex situations based on true events in teams and propose ethical, law-abiding decisions.
6. Virtual Live format of 4 sessions (8 hours) from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, Mexico City time, compatible with the executive agenda.
7. Confirmed dates: September 21, 22, 23 and 24, 2026.
8. Module XV of the Private Wealth Management Executive Program, available as a standalone course.
9. Complete regulatory coverage: FATF, FATCA, CRS, the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA Patriot Act, the EU's AMLD, OFAC and Mexico's UIF.
10. Academic backing from the Private Wealth Management Institute in alliance with IADA, Instituto de Alta Dirección of the Anáhuac Business School.

Syllabus — Key Topics

• The landscape of financial crime in wealth management
• The money laundering cycle: placement, layering and integration
• Corruption, corporate fraud, identity theft and financial cybercrime
• Global regulation and supervision: FATF, CNBV, SEC, FINRA, FinCEN and FCA
• Landmark legislation: the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA Patriot Act, the EU's AML directives and OFAC
• International cooperation: automatic exchange of financial information (the OECD's CRS)
• Fines and criminal actions as deterrents: the BNP Paribas case
• The architecture of an effective AML/Compliance program in private banks and family offices
• KYC policies and enhanced due diligence for high-risk clients
• Account and transaction monitoring: red flags and reporting obligations before the UIF
• Tax havens, offshore structures and money laundering
• Global case study: the Panama Papers
• Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and corruption risk
• International sanctions and the evasion of controls: lessons from the Danske Bank case
• Reputational risk: a single sanctioned client can expel an institution from the global financial system
• Practical case workshop with ethical decision-making from start to finish

Faculty

Sandro García-Rojas · Alejandro Santoyo