Senior Officer – Transaction Monitoring and Payment Screening

DIB Bank Kenya

Join a progressive Islamic bank that embraces innovation and values creativity.

Experience: Minimum 3–4 years

Apply by: 13 November 2026

About DIB Bank Kenya

DIB Bank Kenya Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (AE). The Bank offers a comprehensive range of Islamic financial products and services with several attractive features based on a system of ethical banking principles for the benefit of all, irrespective of religion, creed, belief, or nationality.

As a progressive Islamic Bank that embraces innovation and values creativity, we are seeking to recruit an agile and experienced professional for the below position: Senior Officer – Transaction Monitoring and Payment Screening.

Job Purpose

The Senior Officer – Transaction Monitoring and Payment Screening oversees the effective identification, investigation and escalation of potentially suspicious transactions and sanctioned payments to mitigate financial crime risk. The role ensures compliance with applicable AML/CFT and sanctions regulations through diligent alert review, sound risk-based decision-making and high-quality case documentation. Key supporting responsibilities include regulatory reporting, maintaining strong internal controls, providing guidance to junior compliance staff, Central Operations and business teams, and contributing to continuous improvement of monitoring and screening processes.

The position monitors and analyses financial transactions to detect suspicious activities related to money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing, fraud and other financial crimes. Investigations involve reviewing alerts generated by transaction monitoring and screening systems, conducting enhanced due diligence, gathering data from internal and external sources, and collaborating with other departments. The Senior Officer documents findings, clears or escalates suspicious transaction alerts, and prepares reports, such as suspicious activity reports, to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. The role also supports audit and regulatory reviews, monitoring process improvements and screening system tuning.

Key Responsibilities

• Transaction Monitoring Oversight

• Review and investigate alerts generated by transaction monitoring systems for suspicious or unusual activity.

• Conduct detailed analysis of customer transactions to identify potential money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, fraud, or other financial crimes / unusual financial activities

• Apply risk-based judgment to determine whether alerts are true or false positives. Investigating and analysing alerts, closing false positive alerts based on business feedback and escalating true positive alerts and suspicious cases appropriately to MLRO for further investigation or reporting.

• Support the preparation and escalation of Suspicious Transaction/Activity Reports (STRs/SARs) in accordance with regulatory requirements, ensuring each report is supported by a comprehensive investigation narrative that clearly documents findings, decisions, and supporting rationale.

• Maintain accurate case records to support audits, regulatory examinations, and internal reviews.

• Screening Payment

• Perform name and transaction screening against sanctions, watchlists, and restricted party lists (e.g. UN, OFAC, EU, UK HMT, and local regulators).

• Review and resolve payment screening alerts related to inbound and outbound transactions within the required timelines.

• Assess potential sanctions exposure and recommend action such as blocking, rejecting, or releasing transactions.

• Ensure payments comply with applicable sanctions and embargo regulations.

• Maintain updated logs for tracking of stripped payment messages, payments blocked/rejected over Sanctions concerns and true sanctions match logs.

• Perform monitoring checks to ensure that full originator and beneficiary information is included in outgoing & Incoming payment messages including monitoring of stripped payment messages

• Perform and/or assist the Trade Operations Unit in shipment and vessel tracking, as well as IMB checks.

• Action escalated cases from the Trade Operations Unit

• Systems, Internal Controls & Quality Assurance

• Assist in system testing, tuning, and implementation of new rules or typologies.

• Identify system issues and work with relevant IT teams to resolve them while keeping MLRO in copy.

• Identify trends, typologies, and control gaps within transaction monitoring and payment screening processes and escalate to MLRO.

• Contribute to continuous improvement of monitoring and screening rules.

• Participate in quality assurance initiatives to enhance alert handling consistency and accuracy.

• Contribute to review and updating compliance policies and SOPs

• Customer and stakeholder engagement

• Ensure turnaround times and service level agreements (SLAs) are met.

• Provide guidance, coaching and feedback to junior analysts and support knowledge-sharing within the team to improve investigation quality.

• Liaise with Compliance team, Central Operations, and Business teams on complex cases and escalations.

• Act as a subject matter expert (SME) for transaction monitoring and payment screening queries.

• Support and participate in compliance role-based training of employees

• Other Activities

• Contribute to periodic MIS reporting on alerts, escalations, and trends.

• Supporting implementation of audit and regulatory compliance recommendations.

• Provide insights to MLRO on emerging risks and operational challenges.

• Track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to transaction monitoring and screening effectiveness.

• Supports team leads or managers in workflow optimization and backlog management.

• Support the compliance team in terms of providing backups, as and when required by MLRO.

• In addition to the above accountabilities, new tasks or responsibilities may be assigned by the MLRO and/or line Manager on time-to-time basis.

• Job Specification

• Education & Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree from a recognized institution.

• Work Experience

• Minimum 3-4 years of experience in a similar role, preferably banking experience.

• Job Complexity and Competencies

• Technical

• Strong understanding of AML/CFT regulations, sanctions regimes, and financial crime typologies.

• Practical knowledge of transaction monitoring and payment screening requirements.

• Ability to analyze complex transaction patterns and customer behavior.

• Strong investigative judgment & Analytical Expertise to distinguish genuine risk from false positives.

• Attention to detail when reviewing alerts, documentation, and case narratives.

• Knowledge of related financial crime typologies: TF/PF; TFS evasion; Fraud; Corruption; Tax evasion and trade-based money laundering (TBML)

• Produces clear, concise, and well-substantiated STR/SARs suitable for FRC ensuring documentation is accurate, complete and ready for retrieval.

• Able to identify system gaps, rule weaknesses, or false-positive drivers and propose improvements.

• Ability to use excel for trend analysis and case support.

• Ability to handle high-pressure sensitive or complex financial crime cases within tight regulatory deadlines

• Ability to balance quality and productivity in high-volume or peak-risk periods.

• Strong awareness of personal accountability and regulatory consequences.

• Ability to maintain independence of thought, consistently applying AML controls without bias or undue influence even under commercial pressure.

• Ability to articulate compliance findings clearly to Business units, MLRO, Compliance officers and Internal audit and challenge business decisions constructively and diplomatically.

• Lead junior analysts by example on quality, timeliness, and acting as a subject-matter expert (SME) by providing on-the-job coaching and mentoring, guidance and feedback.

• Behavioral

• Think & Act Customer

• Business & Strategic Acumen

• Ownership & Accountability

• Change & Innovation Agility

• Plan & Execute to Excel

• Grow Personally & Develop Teams

• Digital Mindset

• Forster Synergy

• Interpersonal Effectiveness