The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates 2-5% of global GDP is laundered globally in a year which is between $800 billion and $2 trillion. Anti-money laundering (AML) training is therefore crucial, teaching employees about how to identify, prevent and report money laundering and terrorist financing activities.
This type of compliance education applies to regulated sectors such as finance. For example, in the UK, training is mandatory for firms and individuals that fall under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) 2017.
When it comes to AML compliance training, privacy and security are vital, because of the sensitive data involved. Regulatory, trust, confidentiality and cybersecurity considerations also come into play.
More on those topics below, including a data privacy and security best practices guide for anti-money laundering compliance training.
Best practices for ensuring your AML compliance training remains private and secure span several areas, including respecting employee data, protecting training records and organisational considerations.
Data privacy refers to a person’s ability to determine and control when, how and to what extent their personal information is collected, used and shared. It also encompasses principles and guidelines to ensure the info is processed, managed and protected respectfully, securely and compliantly.
Key data privacy principles for individuals include:
Data security refers to protecting digital info from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, corruption, theft, modification, destruction or loss. Doing that ensures the data’s confidentiality, accuracy and availability (the ‘CIA triad’) across its entire lifecycle.
The concept also involves ensuring information is only accessible to authorised individuals and systems. What’s involved? Technologies like access controls and encryption, policies such as incident response plans, and compliance with relevant regulations.
They encourage and enable responsible data use and help protect people and businesses in the following ways:
How is data privacy and security linked?
Data privacy = respecting how data is used Data security = keeping data safe |
Our how-to guide outlines data privacy and security principles to keep in mind, whether you’re a small business or a large one.
The main thing to remember here? Respecting and protecting employee data and complying with relevant regulations. With that in mind, collect only what’s necessary, meaning limiting data to names, job titles and training records/statuses.
Let staff know how their data will be used, stored and retained, helping you stay transparent, and only keep training records for as long as required by the regulator. On top of that, follow applicable privacy rules and standards.
Finally, use access controls to restrict who can see AML training records and data – for example, only teachers and authorised staff.
Why do data privacy and data security matter in relation to AML training?Similar to any type of compliance training, privacy and security are important for AML for the following reasons:
Regulators expect evidence of AML training. If security is breached, records could be leaked; if data privacy fails, compliance could be compromised, and employee trust threatened. |
This step involves focusing on protecting data and training records, including:
Did you know?According to a 2024 IBM report, the average cost of a data breach is $4.88 million, with financial services businesses faring worse at $6.08 million. |
People and processes are the focal point here. For example, teach employees about privacy rights and obligations and ensure anyone handling training records is bound by confidentiality rules.
When it comes to the training data privacy and security, use realistic, synthetic info (or anonymise and mask). Additionally, redact sensitive details if using real case studies.
The final step is about ensuring AML compliance training materials adhere to:
In terms of vendor due diligence, our ‘Trust and Security’ page outlines our commitment to data privacy and security. Furthermore, our ‘Trust Centre’ offers information about our security policies, compliance and audit reports.
We offer comprehensive anti-money laundering compliance training solutions, from ‘Anti-Money Laundering & Counter-Terrorist Financing’ to ‘Financial Crime’.
For small businesses, there’s our CoreCompliance plan, a “ready-to-use e-learning portal with over 150 courses and diagnostic assessments, and a simple dashboard to manage users and download reports”.
For more info about our data privacy and security policies and the AML compliance training we offer, contact our team directly.
When it comes to AML compliance training and data privacy and security, the goal is to teach employees effectively without exposing personal data unnecessarily. Use our best practices guide to ensure end-to-end data privacy and security.
As per Experian, AML checks “help prevent money laundering by confirming potential customers and businesses are who they say they are, and assessing how likely it is they’re involved in financial crime. For entities regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), this due diligence is considered essential and is a legal requirement”.
Following AML laws, regulations and procedures to detect and stop suspicious and illicit money flows, including fraud and terrorist financing.
They’re closely related but differ: data privacy is all about how personal info is collected, used and shared, centring on policies, consent and ethical handling, whereas data security focuses on protecting information using technical measures.
Employee names, job roles, completion records and results.
As long as needed for compliance evidence, depending on regulatory requirements and company policy. For example, as per the UK's Money Laundering Regulations and the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG), training data must be kept for at least five years.
Your organisation (the data controller), even if training is delivered through a third-party vendor (data processor) such as Skillcast.
Our Essentials Library contains e-learning content designed to help organisations meet fundamental compliance requirements. If you’re looking for focused training, our training packages offer a complete solution for your compliance programme.
Our e-learning courses are designed to engage employees with our microlearning library, which was created to support knowledge retention.
Our Compliance Portal also features a range of tools to digitise and automate your compliance learning. These include our:
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