Money Laundering Risks in Capital Markets

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Course Overview

Capital markets have evolved significantly in recent decades, with increasingly complex products, faster execution, and greater accessibility. These same features also make capital markets attractive to those seeking to launder illicit funds. This interactive workshop is designed for senior compliance and financial crime professionals within UK-regulated financial services firms who require a clear, practical understanding of how money laundering risk arises across capital markets activity.

The course explains how capital markets function in practice and examines the key money laundering risk drivers associated with different products, trading behaviours, and client types. It focuses on how compliance teams can effectively challenge front-office activity, design proportionate and risk-based controls, and implement monitoring that is aligned with current UK regulatory expectations.

Strong emphasis is placed on evidencing judgement, oversight, and control effectiveness. The workshop equips participants to critically assess whether their firm’s capital markets AML framework is fit for purpose and to articulate that assessment confidently to senior management, auditors, and regulators.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Understand how capital markets operate in practice and where money laundering risk can arise
• Identify key money laundering risk drivers across capital markets products, trading activity, and client types
• Recognise suspicious trading behaviours and typologies relevant to market abuse and money laundering risk
• Apply a risk-based approach to the design of AML controls and monitoring for capital markets activity
• Effectively challenge front-office decisions and trading activity from a compliance and financial crime perspective
• Assess the adequacy and effectiveness of transaction monitoring and surveillance arrangements
• Evidence oversight, professional judgement, and control effectiveness in a regulator-ready manner

Who this course is for

This workshop is designed for professionals with responsibility for AML and financial crime oversight in capital markets contexts, including:

• Heads of Compliance and Financial Crime
• MLROs and Deputy MLROs
• Capital Markets Compliance professionals
• Trading, markets, and product oversight specialists
• Financial Crime and Transaction Monitoring leads
• Internal audit and assurance professionals
• Senior managers accountable for AML under SM&CR

The course is particularly relevant for UK-regulated firms engaged in capital markets activity that wish to strengthen their understanding of money laundering risk and demonstrate robust, proportionate controls to regulators.