One of the things I love about working in the world of financial crime is that you never stop learning. Criminals are endlessly inventive. Regulators keep reshaping the rules. Technology evolves faster than we can sometimes keep pace. If you’re not open to refreshing your knowledge, you risk falling behind.

That’s why I try and make sure I put aside time purely for learning. This time I used it to complete the AML Fundamentals course by Sumsub. Yes, this is the course I posted about on the train! I didn’t get it all done on that journey, but I did do a few modules and it was engaging enough that I returned to it doing little and often over the next week or so.  It’s online course, that you can do at your own pace – something I found super useful when juggling work/life/learning balance!

As promised, I thought I would share my reflections for anyone curious about whether it’s worth investing the time. Spoiler: it is.

As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about fraud, crime, and resilience, I found it valuable, and I think others will too.

Essentials Done Well

At its core, the course is an essentials programme, designed to give you a grounding in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF), and Proliferation Financing (PF).

It’s not heavy on jargon, and it doesn’t assume prior knowledge. I particularly liked the glossary at the beginning, so useful for those coming from different backgrounds and non-native English speakers.  At the same time, it’s not so simplistic that those already working in financial crime won’t learn anything. I’d describe it as a good entry point for newcomers and a solid refresher for professionals whose focus might be more on fraud than compliance.

For example, if you work in fraud prevention, you’ll often see the downstream consequences of laundering, the scams, the mules, the victims, but you might not spend as much time inside the compliance processes that detect and stop suspicious funds. This course bridges that gap nicely.

A Structured Journey Through AML

The course is split into six modules, each tackling a core area:

1. Foundations of AML – why it matters, global standards, predicate offences, and the three stages of laundering.
2. Risk Assessment and Due Diligence – governance, the risk-based approach, and customer due diligence.
3. Transaction Monitoring – the mechanics of spotting suspicious behaviour in real time.
4. Case Management – how investigations are triggered, escalated, and resolved.
5. FIU Reporting – how Suspicious Activity/Transaction Reports feed into national and international intelligence systems.
6. Industry-Specific Risks – from crypto to gambling, trading, and traditional financial services.

What I liked is that each module balances theory with practical insight. You’re not just learning what a suspicious activity report (SAR) is; you’re also shown the mechanics of how to file one and why timeliness and detail matter. You’re not just told about customer due diligence (CDD); you get clarity on the difference between source of wealth and source of funds, and why both matter in assessing legitimacy.

My Highlights

The most interesting module for me was transaction monitoring. My background is more criminological, I’ve studied fraudsters, victims, and systems, but I’ve not directly worked in the teams that monitor transactions for red flags.

This section opened my eyes to the complexity behind what, from the outside, can look like simple alerts. For example, the course explains the tension between rules-based monitoring (flagging any transaction over a certain amount) and risk-based monitoring (tailoring checks to each customer’s risk profile). It also explores the reality that 70–90% of alerts are false positives – a statistic that should make anyone think twice before assuming the technology is a magic bullet.

The downloadable transaction monitoring checklist was a bonus. It gives clear, practical guidance: apply thresholds consistently, combine automation with human review, and always consider context before flagging anomalies. It’s the kind of tool you can keep on your desk and refer back to.

The case management module also stood out. Investigations are not just about spotting the anomaly; they’re about having structured workflows, unified data, and proportionate responses. I particularly liked the section on the seven-step investigation flow, which takes you from alert generation through to escalation, decision, and reporting.

As someone who has often worked on the research and policy side, it’s easy to forget just how much governance, process, and auditability sits behind each of those Suspicious Activity Reports we talk about in reports and whitepapers.

I would always like to see more direct links to the criminal behaviour behind the patterns. For example, when we talk about layering transactions or using shell companies, I’d love to see more case studies of how real criminals actually did it, what mistakes they made, and how they were caught.

But I’ll admit that’s the criminologist in me speaking – I always want to see the human story behind the technical framework. For most learners, the level of detail here is spot on.

So, Who Should Take This Course?

• Students and early-career professionals who want a clear, structured introduction to AML.
• Fraud teams who want to understand the compliance side better.
• Managers in adjacent functions (risk, product, operations) who need to know the essentials without becoming compliance officers.
• Seasoned professionals who want a refresher, or who just want to carve out time for their own CPD.

For me, it reinforced the principle that we never know it all. No matter how experienced you are, there’s always more to learn, and sometimes it’s the basics that benefit from a revisit.

My Personal Takeaway

I try to set aside a day a month for CPD (continuing professional development). It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of it all, proposals, research projects, client work, and forget to invest in our own learning. This course was a perfect way to spend that day: short enough to complete in a few sittings, but structured enough to feel substantial.

And it was a good reminder that learning is not just about depth, it’s about breadth too. Understanding how transaction monitoring or case management works helps me think more holistically about fraud and financial crime.

The AML Fundamentals course is free, accessible, and professionally delivered. It’s not the be-all and end-all of AML training, but it doesn’t pretend to be. Instead, it gives you the essentials: clear explanations, structured modules, practical checklists, and a grounding in both global standards and industry practice.

If you’re curious about AML, or if you’re already in financial crime but want to refresh your knowledge, I’d recommend giving it a go. At worst, you’ll spend a few hours sharpening what you already know. At best, you’ll walk away with new insights, like I did.

Most importantly, it’s a reminder that we should always keep learning. Financial crime evolves constantly, and so should we.

Thanks to Sumsub for making this course available – I’ll certainly be checking out more of the Academy courses in future. If you want to do it too, you can find the course I did here: https://sumsub.link/mhh