AML Analyst
95% skill overlap
Your role
Fraud Analyst
Full profileYour role
- L3 salary
- Not published yet
- Upcoming dated changes
- 8 changes ahead
What the role does
A Fraud Analyst detects, investigates and prevents fraud against a financial firm and its customers. The role reviews alerts from fraud detection systems on card payments, online banking, instant transfers and loan applications, contacts customers to confirm transactions, blocks accounts or payments where needed, and investigates cases such as account takeover, authorised push payment scams and identity fraud. Fraud analysts work in banks, payment firms and card issuers, often alongside anti-money laundering teams.
Read a day in the life
A day in the life
The analyst starts on the real-time fraud queue, where the detection system holds payments that look unusual. The first case is a large instant transfer from an elderly customer to a new beneficiary abroad. The analyst checks the device, login location and recent changes to the account, then calls the customer, who describes a caller claiming to be from the bank. The analyst stops the payment, secures the account and records the case as a scam attempt. Later cases include card transactions in two countries within an hour and a loan application with documents that do not match public records. After lunch the analyst works on investigations: tracing funds from a confirmed account takeover and requesting a recall from the receiving bank. Mid-afternoon the analyst reviews which rules produced many false alerts this week and shares examples with the fraud strategy team. The day ends with completing case notes, flagging a new scam pattern and handing open cases to the evening shift.
Levels
- L1 Starting out
- L2 Independent
- L3 Senior or specialist
- L4 Leads a team or an area
- L5 Leads the function
Full level descriptions and job titles
The EFO level names are the common scale; job titles differ between employers.
| Level | What the work looks like | Typical years | Typical job titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Starting out | Reviews fraud alerts and holds with procedures, contacts customers to verify activity, blocks cards or accounts and learns fraud typologies and detection tools under supervision. | 0-2 | Banks: Analyst, Junior Analyst, Associate (asset servicing), Trainee, GraduateAsset servicers: Junior, Specialist (entry), Officer |
| L2 Independent | Handles complex fraud cases and investigations end to end, recovers funds where possible, prepares case files for reporting and trains L1 analysts. | 2-5 | Banks: Analyst / Senior Analyst, AssociateAsset servicers: Specialist, Senior Specialist, Senior Officer |
| L3 Senior or specialist | Senior fraud analyst or investigator. Leads complex or organised fraud cases, analyses fraud trends, helps tune detection rules and models and represents fraud in projects. | 5-9 | Banks: Senior Associate, AVP, Assistant ManagerAsset servicers: Senior Specialist, Expert, Team Lead (small team) |
| L4 Leads a team or an area | Leads a fraud operations or investigations team, owns service levels, losses and quality, and is the escalation point for major incidents, law enforcement contacts and audits. | 8-14 | Banks: VP, Manager, Senior ManagerAsset servicers: Team Lead, Manager, Head of Section |
| L5 Leads the function | Head of fraud or fraud risk for a legal entity or region. Accountable for fraud strategy, controls and losses, sets risk appetite and reports to senior management and regulators. | 12+ | Banks: Director, Executive Director, Managing Director, Head of functionAsset servicers: Head of Department, Director |
Skills
Where the skill weights come from
Each role lists its skills with a tier and a weight. The weights of one role add up to 100 percent.
Source: the EFO role catalogue, built from the ESCO classification and reviewed by the editors.
The percentage is the skill's share of the role; the bars are drawn relative to the anchor skill, which is shown full.
Critical
- Transaction monitoring and reportingWeight 14.6%Relevant to you
- Anti-money laundering regulationWeight 9.8%Relevant to you
- Know your customer due diligenceWeight 9.8%Relevant to you
- Fraud typologies and controlsWeight 9.8%Relevant to you
Important and supporting skills 17
Important
- Investigative reasoning on anomaliesWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Sanctions regimes and screeningWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Professional written communicationWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Attention to detailWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Risk judgment and escalation instinctWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Ethical judgment in grey areasWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Working to tight deadlinesWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
- Integrity and discretionWeight 4.9%Relevant to you
Supporting
- Querying data with SQLWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Ticketing platforms (ServiceNow)Weight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Process mapping and redesignWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Organisation and prioritisationWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Control mindset (what could go wrong)Weight 2.4%Relevant to you
- Data cleaning and validationWeight 2.4%Relevant to you
Useful
- Visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau)Weight 0.8%Relevant to you
- Data protection and privacy law (GDPR, CCPA, DPDP)Weight 0.8%Relevant to you
- Stakeholder managementWeight 0.8%Relevant to you
Processes
The work the role takes part in.
What each process covers
- AML transaction monitoringMain
- Client onboarding and KYCMain
- Fraud preventionMain
- Sanctions screeningSupporting
Where the role concentrates
How AI is changing the role
Machine learning models score payments in real time, detect unusual devices and behaviour, and cut false alerts, so fewer transactions need manual review.
Read the full assessment
Machine learning models score payments in real time, detect unusual devices and behaviour, and cut false alerts, so fewer transactions need manual review. Fraudsters also use generative AI for deepfakes, synthetic identities and convincing scam messages, which makes cases harder. The European Banking Authority reports AI use in EU banks for fraud detection with governance expectations. Value grows in investigating new scam patterns, talking to vulnerable customers, judging edge cases and feeding findings back into detection rules. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners publishes studies of fraud trends used across the profession.
Dated changes for this role
- EU Digital Identity Wallets: banks must accept themRelevant to you
- UK cryptoasset regime: application window and start dateRelevant to you
- UK Cryptoasset Reporting Framework: first reports dueRelevant to you
- AMLA selects banks and firms for direct EU supervisionRelevant to you
- ECB digital euro pilot with 36 payment providersRelevant to you
Worth knowing
Salary snapshot
Salary figures are not published yet
The L3 salary range for this role, with its sources, will appear here when the salaries section opens.
Certifications
- CAMS
- ICA Diploma in Compliance
- CIPP/E
Concepts to know
Neighbouring roles
Roles that need many of the same skills, by weighted skill overlap, with the skills you would need to add.
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KYC Analyst
74% skill overlap
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Corporate Onboarding Analyst (KYC)
71% skill overlap
To add: Corporate governance, Client service mindset
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Do this job? Suggest a correction
Sources
Generative AIGenerative AI is a family of AI models that produce new content (text, code, images, audio) in response to a prompt, by learning patterns from very large datasets. In finance it is used for drafting, summarising documents, coding help and customer service assistants.