Nikansha Shivnani
San Francisco,California
Summary
Diligent and experienced BSA Compliance Analyst with a proven track record of ensuring regulatory adherence and mitigating financial risk within the banking and financial services sector. Adept at conducting thorough AML and KYC investigations, monitoring transactions for suspicious activity, and maintaining comprehensive compliance documentation. Skilled in collaborating with cross-functional teams, providing expert guidance on regulatory matters, and implementing effective training programs. Possesses excellent analytical abilities, attention to detail, and a commitment to upholding the highest standards of compliance.
Overview
7
7
years of professional experience
Work History
Compliance Analyst
OKCoin
02.2024 - 11.2025
- Transaction Monitoring & Investigations: Analyze on-chain and off-chain transactions for illicit activities, including structuring, layering, mixing, and darknet market involvement. Utilize Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and Elliptic to trace cryptocurrency flows and identify high-risk wallets. Investigate unusual trading patterns, rapid fund movements, and sanctions risks, working with fraud and security teams to mitigate threats.
- Customer Due Diligence (CDD) & Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD): Conduct KYC/EDD reviews for retail and institutional clients, ensuring compliance with BSA, FATF, OFAC, and FinCEN regulations. Assess source of funds, business models, and overall risk exposure, escalating cases involving PEPs, adverse media, and high-risk geographies.
- Sanctions Screening & Risk Management: Screen customers and transactions using automated tools and manual analysis to detect sanctioned entities and high-risk wallets.
- Suspicious Activity Reporting (SARs/STRs) & Regulatory Compliance: Draft and submit SARs/STRs, providing detailed investigative narratives and transaction analyses for regulatory filings. Assist in regulatory audits and inquiries, ensuring full compliance and comprehensive documentation.
- Compliance Program Development & Internal Controls: Enhance AML policies, risk-based controls, and transaction monitoring frameworks to align with regulatory standards. Provide AML training to internal teams on risk assessment, compliance best practices, and emerging financial crime trends.
BSA & Compliance Analyst
Deserve Inc
10.2021 - 08.2023
- Review ACH Return Reports: Conducted detailed review of ACH return reports, specializing in high-risk return codes and large return payments. Expertly identified unusual payment patterns for check kitting and potential money laundering activities to ensure AML regulation compliance.
- Transaction monitoring: Utilized advanced transaction monitoring tools (NICE Actimize & Unit21) to assess the activity of customers, identifying anomalies, trends, and patterns that might indicate unusual or questionable behavior like elder financial abuse, check kitting, and more.
- EDD Investigations: Demonstrated expertise in conducting thorough EDD investigations, covering diverse aspects from CIP verification to transaction monitoring and source of funds analysis.
- Escalations and Unusual Activity Reports (UAR): Drafted thorough and accurate Unusual Activity Reports (UARs) detailing the suspicious activity, providing relevant evidence, and explaining the rationale for escalation in cases of elder financial abuse, first-party fraud, and third-party fraud cases.
- Review of e-Oscar tickets: Analyzed e-Oscar tickets related to credit reporting disputes, investigating the accuracy of reported account status, balances, and other credit-related information.
- Cross Team communication: Collaborated seamlessly with cross-functional teams like fraud prevention, customer support, and operations to ensure a comprehensive and holistic assessment of high-risk cases. Also, collaborated closely with the product team to enhance operational efficiency and accuracy within the ACH returns process.
- Documentation of workflow, policies, and procedures: Documented a comprehensive EDD job aid to guide analysts through the complex process of assessing high-risk customers' profiles and transactions. Successfully trained team members on the use of the EDD job aid and knowledge base, fostering a standardized approach to EDD processes.
- OFAC and FinCen Screening: Utilized cutting-edge AML screening tools and software to systematically compare customer information against various sanctioned and watchlist databases.
AML Quality Assurance Analyst
MBO Partners for PwC (Consultant)
05.2021 - 10.2021
- Mentoring and quality assurance: Successfully coached and guided a dedicated team of 5-7 analysts through constructive feedback and regular virtual sessions to refine the quality and accuracy of their case investigations. Establish an organized audit trail to document completed quality reviews, employing a comprehensive quality review checklist.
- Customer CIP verification and background Analysis: Conducted extensive background checks for EDD cases which involved gathering additional information about the customer, source of funds, adverse media screening, and business relationships.
- Transaction Monitoring: Analysed the transactional pattern through automated alerts to review any unusual pattern of transaction behavior such as sudden changes in transaction frequency, large cash deposits, structuring transactions to avoid reporting thresholds, and others.
- Sanction Screening: Ensured customers were screened against various sanctions lists (OFAC and FinCen checks) to identify any transactions involving individuals, organizations, or countries subject to economic sanctions.
- Suspicious Activity Report (SAR's) and Escalations: In cases of detection of unusual and suspicious activity, documented the investigation with detailed review and reasons for escalations if required.
KYC Analyst
Deutsche Bank DBOI, Pune, India
09.2018 - 01.2020
- Conducting Comprehensive Client Onboarding and Verification: Ensured adherence to the Client Identification Program (CIP) and meticulously reviewed onboarding documents, aligning with Know Your Customer (KYC), USA Patriot Act, and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) standards.
- Risk Assessment and Classification: Proficiently determined precise risk ratings for both individual (KYC) and institutional accounts (KYB), emphasizing high-risk jurisdictions, cash-intensive enterprises, and individuals classified as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
- Thorough Due Diligence Investigations: Conducted exhaustive due-diligence inquiries, utilizing a blend of public and private databases (Lexis Nexis) to align with AML, BSA, and other regulatory benchmarks. These investigations provided invaluable support to business units, effectively mitigating operational, financial, and reputational risks.
- In-depth Ownership Structure Analysis: Demonstrated a commitment to quality by undertaking intricate research to identify and analyze complex ownership structures, particularly in the context of finding ultimate beneficial owners (UBO's) and controllers in EDD cases. This approach facilitated a comprehensive understanding of clients' profiles and potential risk factors.
- Streamline the due-diligence process: Enhanced efficiency of the Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC) onboarding process through the documentation of policies, procedures, and workflow.
Education
Master's in Corporate Law -
Manipal University
Rajasthan, India06-2017
Business Administration and Bachelor of Law -
Symbiosis Law College
Pune, India06-2016
Skills
- AML/ KYC Procedures and Regulatory Compliance
- Risk Assessment
- SAR/ STR reporting
- Case Management
- Transaction monitoring
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Technology Proficiency (Lexis Nexis, Actimize, Unit-21, World Check, Chainalysis, GBSC)
- Crypto Transaction tracking
- Critical thinking
Timeline
Compliance Analyst
OKCoin
02.2024 - 11.2025
BSA & Compliance Analyst
Deserve Inc
10.2021 - 08.2023
AML Quality Assurance Analyst
MBO Partners for PwC (Consultant)
05.2021 - 10.2021
KYC Analyst
Deutsche Bank DBOI, Pune, India
09.2018 - 01.2020
Master's in Corporate Law -
Manipal University
Business Administration and Bachelor of Law -
Symbiosis Law College