Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Languages
Timeline
Generic
Syed Anas Ali

Syed Anas Ali

Head of Compliance Assurance
Sydney,NSW

Summary

  • Qualified chartered accountant and certified internal auditor with more than 15 years of experience in compliance and audit
  • Experience in the audit of local and global institutions with a specific focus on operations, products, credit, risk management, finance, compliance and treasury
  • Experience in leading and setting up a team from scratch
  • Compliance assurance specialist with experience in financial crimes and regulatory compliance assurance i.e. KYC, FATCA CRS, Conflict of Interest, Anti Bribery and Corruption

Overview

17
17
years of professional experience

Work History

Head of Compliance Assurance

ING Bank Australia Limited
11.2021 - Current

ING Bank Australia is a digital bank offering retail and wholesale products within Australia. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ING Bank N.V., one of the largest listed banks in the Netherlands. I started my career in ING at Internal Audit. In 2019, I was offered to join compliance to establish a second-line assurance team within ING. In November 2021, I was promoted to head of the compliance assurance team due to my exceptional performance.

Leading a team of more than ten staff, my primary responsibilities include:

  • Development and implementation of compliance assurance strategy
  • Creation and execution of the annual regulatory reporting and assurance plan to ensure coverage of key compliance topics (such as AML/CTF, data privacy etc.)
  • Develop, communicate and maintain compliance-related policies, guidance and standard operating procedures Reporting to the Board Risk and relevant local and global committees
  • Being a mentor to the staff members to promote positive feedback and engagement
  • Liaising with all key stakeholders and managing expectations Allocation of staff members and budget management

Key achievements in the role:

  • Assisted the business in saving potential of more than $1 million by identification of a control breakdown and rectification
  • Reduced the department cost by more than $500k by identifying opportunities to outsource business as usual continuous monitoring activities
  • Introducing an initiative to cross-skill financial crime and regulatory risk assurance teams
  • Embedding data analysis within assurance activities and automating key assurance reporting by connecting the core systems to tableau, which resulted in improved efficiencies
  • Assisted the business in control optimisation across the whole bank

Senior Manager Compliance Assurance

ING Bank Australia Limited
09.2019 - 11.2021

Acting as a 2IC to the head of, my primary responsibilities included:

  • Development and implementation of the compliance assurance methodology
  • Manage and execute the annual compliance assurance plan
  • Provide subject matter expertise and coach the team in the identification of appropriate review scope and delivery of assurance activities
  • Monitor and identify key in-country emerging risks and/or trends across all Businesses/ Functions to ensure the ongoing development of the assurance programme to address them
  • Ensuring accurate and timely regulatory reporting to the regulators (such as Banking Code of Practice, FATCA CRS, and CPS 220 – Risk Management etc.)
  • Promoting risk awareness amongst the first line of defence and building relationships with external stakeholders and internal peers to assist in the mapping of compliance risks and controls


Key achievements in the role:

  • Developed and implemented assurance methodology
  • Trained the whole compliance assurance team on executing assurance activities and best practices to document planning memorandum, fieldwork and reporting
  • Implemented teammate to document review activities performed

Manager Internal Audit

ING Bank Australia Limited
04.2016 - 09.2019

During my time in internal audit, my primary responsibilities included:

  • Assisting the head of the audit with the preparation of a risk-based annual audit plan and board reporting Establish an effective working relationship with audit clients and executive management
  • Leading assigned audits, covering operations, products, credit, risk management, finance, and treasury
  • Preparing and finalising audit planning memorandums (APMs) and ensuring that each auditable area is appropriately scoped and key risks are identified
  • Discussing and finalising audit findings with stakeholders, including agreed management actions
  • Following up on the implementation of agreed management actions
  • Managing and coaching audit team members, including review of work papers


Key achievements in the role:

  • Build a successful relationship with key stakeholders in the first and second line Assist in the training and development of junior staff
  • Helped the team set up a data analytics hub

Manager External Audit

KPMG
09.2006 - 04.2016

I started in KPMG as an audit associate within the financial services institutions department and worked my way up to a Manager. I had the privilege of working in multiple KPMG locations, which facilitated me to learn and adapt different regulatory requirements, cultures and working styles, making me more resilient. This also allowed me to audit several large financial institutions across different countries, such as Citi Bank, Qatar National Bank, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Standard Chartered, and United Bank Limited. My primary responsibilities within KPMG were:

  • Planning, execution and review of statutory & financial audits, limited reviews and other assignments of banks and financial institutions
  • Advisory services to clients on various accounting, corporate and financial issues, including derivatives, financial instruments, consolidation and business combination
  • Development and on-the-job training of junior staff
  • Preparation of key audit deliverables

Education

ACAMS Certified

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering
06.2022

Certified Internal Auditor

Institute of Internal Auditors Australia
01.2020

Chartered Accountant

Chartered Accountants Australia And New Zealand
07.2018

Fellow Chartered Accountant

Institute of Chartered Accountants Pakistan
07.2010

Skills

  • Project management
  • Leadership
  • Problem-solving
  • Report writing
  • Board presentation
  • Technical knowledge of applicable regulatory requirements
  • Financial crimes and regulatory compliance assurance
  • Written and Verbal Communication
  • Stakeholder management
  • Data analysis and automation
  • Fully conversant with Teammate (audit documentation software) and Microsoft Family

Languages

English
Native or Bilingual
Urdu
Native or Bilingual

Timeline

Head of Compliance Assurance

ING Bank Australia Limited
11.2021 - Current

Senior Manager Compliance Assurance

ING Bank Australia Limited
09.2019 - 11.2021

Manager Internal Audit

ING Bank Australia Limited
04.2016 - 09.2019

Manager External Audit

KPMG
09.2006 - 04.2016

ACAMS Certified

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering

Certified Internal Auditor

Institute of Internal Auditors Australia

Chartered Accountant

Chartered Accountants Australia And New Zealand

Fellow Chartered Accountant

Institute of Chartered Accountants Pakistan
Syed Anas AliHead of Compliance Assurance