Our Team

Crispin Yuen

Crispin Yuen, CAMS-Audit, CISSP, CISA

Director

Crispin is a Financial Crime Risk & Compliance specialist with extensive experience in regulatory compliance, risk controls, governance and assurance. He brings a unique combination of insights, experience and pragmatism to complex group-wide agendas and help clients navigate the fast-evolving financial crime risk landscape.

Through his work in both financial institutions and professional services firms over the past 20 years, Crispin has accumulated in-depth remediation experience in resolving deficiencies raised in both OFAC and AUSTRAC enforcements. This distinguishes him as one of very few professionals with such experience in Australia. At the same time, Crispin has developed deep working relationships with regulators and law enforcement agencies in combating financial crime. At the invitation of the Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, Crispin spoke as an industry witness before the Inquiry into financial-related crime (2015). In June 2022, he was invited to speak at an expert roundtable held at the United Nations Office, Vienna by the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime pursuant to the UN General Assembly resolution 75/282.

Crispin is recognised as an expert in financial crime by The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, an international non-governmental organisation (headquartered in Switzerland) dedicated to developing new and innovative strategies and responses to organised crime. He has been serving as a Board member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) Australasian Chapter for over 15 years and co-authored the CAMS and Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (CGSS) study guide and exam questions. He wrote the Compliance Best Practice and Enhanced Independent Review industry guidelines for the Australian Remittance and Currency Providers Association (ARCPA) which were presented to the then AUSTRAC CEO in 2016. Crispin teaches postgraduate students on International Financial Crime at the University of Sydney and regularly presents at financial crime conferences. 

Value

Crispin is experienced in engaging with different types of people at all levels, ranging from IT personnel to Board and senior executives, regulators, legal counsel and law enforcement officers. He is known by his clients to be “very pragmatic in his approach with a “business sense” practicality inherent to his AML/CTF consultancy, even when resolving complex issues. He is also very easy to work with.”, and “Very methodical and professional.”. Please refer to more feedback here.

Skills and expertise

  • Board advisory

  • Financial Crime program

  • Financial Crime risk assessment

  • Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF)

  • Economic and Trade Sanctions

  • Anti-Bribery and Corruption

  • Regulatory compliance in financial services

  • Fraud risk management

  • Regulatory enforcement response

  • Securities fraud and market manipulation

  • Compliance due diligence for mergers and acquisitions

  • Target operating model for Financial Crime risk management

  • Financial Crime technology evaluation and digital transformation

  • Cyber Crime Incident Response

  • Privacy and Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme

Relevant experience

  • Provided strategic and tactical advisory services on AML/CTF, Fraud and Economic and Trade Sanctions to financial services clients in his role in professional services firms, as well as in-house Head of Compliance or AML/CTF Compliance Officer in financial services organisations.

  • Conducted financial crime risk assessments, model validation and tuning, digital transformation and training for a major Australian bank in response to a billion-dollar penalty.

  • Conducted numerous ML/TF risk assessments, including evaluation of inherent ML/TF risk arising from the type of customers, products, channels, employees, third parties and jurisdictions in which an organisation operates.

  • Conducted numerous AML/CTF program independent reviews - independent assessment of the level of design, implementation and effectiveness of an organisation’s AML/CTF program.

  • Conducted gap analysis in relation to organisations’ AML/CTF, Sanctions, Fraud and Anti-Bribery & Corruption frameworks and provided observations and recommendations.

  • Designed and developed AML/CTF programs for both small and large reporting entities.

  • Worked closely with business units to design and build target operating models to bridge organisational strategic goals in financial crime risk management and business execution.

  • Assisted in the global compilation of all publicly available economic and trade sanctions legislation to facilitate sanctions compliance check.

  • Wrote specification and business requirements for acquisition of financial crime systems and technology to perform transaction monitoring, case management, screening and financial markets surveillance.

  • Assisted in the creation of simple, fast and cost-effective tools to help organisations conduct online name checking, including sanctions and politically exposed persons (PEPs), and initial Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

  • Conducted numerous in-house and external training sessions and workshops, tailoring to business needs in managing financial crime.

  • Prepared a number of regulatory responses or pre-inspection reviews in response to regulatory action, regulatory inspection or audit to ensure standards are met.

  • Assisted organisations to remediate customer records in relation to KYC requirements in lookback exercise and subsequent reporting to regulators on outcomes.

  • Conducted industry benchmarking of Financial Intelligence Operations models and provided recommendations.

  • Responded to cybercrime incidents, engagement with law enforcement agencies and subsequent reporting of notifiable data breaches to impacted customers and regulators.

  • Conducted covert investigations of internal fraud, company embezzlement and misconduct, including computer forensic and data analytics.

Professional qualifications and memberships

Teaching Faculty, International Financial Crime, School of Business Law, University of Sydney

Expert Member (Financial Crime), The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Board Director, Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) Australasian Chapter

Certified Advanced AML Audit Specialist (CAMS-Audit), Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS)

Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS)

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC)²

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)

Books and publications

Written submission to NSW Crime Commission's Inquiry into Money Laundering in Pubs and Clubs, conducted in partnership with the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC, New South Wales Crime Commission, 2022.

"The Role of Independent Audit in Strengthening AML/CFT and Sanctions Controls for Money Services Businesses (MSBs) and Advancing Financial Inclusion”, ACAMS, 2018.

“Australian Government Report Proposes Sweeping AML/CTF Reforms”, interviewed and quoted, Thomson Reuters, 2016.

“Position Paper for International Alliance of MTO Associations”, co-author, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary, Paris, 2015.

Written submission to AUSTRAC’s Stakeholder Consultation Paper on the Post-Implementation Review of Chapters 58 and 59 of the AML/CTF Rules, AUSTRAC, 2015.

Written submission to Attorney-General's Department on the Statutory Review of AML/CTF Act, 2015.

Written submission to Inquiry into Financial Related Crime, Commonwealth of Australia, 2014.

Written submission to Feedback Statement to the IOSCO Consultation Report on Technological Challenges to Effective Market Surveillance Issues and Regulatory Tools, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), 2013.

“Study Guide for CAMS Certification Exam”, 5th edition, co-author, ACAMS guide and exam questions, 2012.

“Case Study: HSBC and the Lessons for AML Compliance Officers”, Thomson Reuters, 2012.

“Cover-up: the lessons behind ING’s US$619m sanctions fine”, Thomson Reuters, 2012.

“FATF Review of Standards – 2010-2011”, AML Sanctions, 2012, available on Amazon.

Response to “FATF’s Review of the Standards – Preparation for the 4th Round of Mutual Evaluations”, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), 2011.

Written submission to Feedback Statement to the IOSCO Consultation Report on Regulatory Issues Raised by the Impact of Technological Changes on Market Integrity and Efficiency, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), 2011.

“Do You Really Know Your Customer?”, LexisNexis Risk Magazine, 2009.

Our practice is supported by a group of dedicated Financial Crime analysts who are regularly trained in-house on leading financial crime risk and compliance developments in Australia, New Zealand and other key jurisdictions committed to fighting financial crime.

  • "I worked under Crispin during my time at Ria Financial. Crispin is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about AML/CTF and passed that passion on to me. He was essential in the remediation of the AML/CTF compliance framework for the company and understood the risks and controls needed to ensure its effective implementation. As the Head of Compliance, he was very interested in the professional development and wellbeing of each of his team members. Crispin is a mentor who continues to support and guide me in my career."

    Company Secretary, Challenger

  • "I had the privilege to work in Crispin's team during my time with Ria. Crispin is an experienced, knowledgeable and passionate AML/Financial Crime professional, who excels at implementing an AML/CTF compliance program and managing remediation project. He was very dedicated to developing his team. Crispin has been an amazing boss and mentor for me. I am grateful for the guidance and support he has given me."

    Senior Manager Compliance, HSBC

  • "I worked with Crispin Yuen at AMP during 2012. Crispin and I were in Group Risk Management, although our roles differed, my role was focused on Group reporting and Crispin was supporting the Anti-Money Laundering team. I was able to observe Crispin’s professionalism and reliability in dealing with multiple stakeholders. Crispin's polite and friendly nature had a very positive impact on those around him and he added to a strong sense of team culture. Crispin’s strong communication skills and proactive nature ensured the project status and any issues were adequately communicated and resolved and his technical knowledge ensured the desired outcomes were achieved. Crispin’s ability to work independently was also a key strength in the consultant role he performed at AMP. I am happy to recommend Crispin Yuen and would see him as an asset to any organisation."

    Senior Manager, Enterprise Risk Management Reporting, AMP

  • "I worked under Crispin for over 7 months while at Ria Financial in his Compliance team. As a law student in my final year of study, Crispin willingly became a mentor to me making the final stage of my 5 year degree a more clear and directed time. Crispin coached and developed me in the areas of AML/CTF, fraud and sanctions. He walked me through technical concepts and risk management with real life examples. As a manager Crispin was understanding and empathetic - he had an open door policy and encouraged me to share with him any concerns or questions I had. We would also often brainstorm together as to potential directions for my future career, encouraging me to keep an open mind and helping me see the near infinite possibilities and avenues open to me. I am extremely thankful for Crispin's advice and guidance over those months with which I have grown both in skill and personally."

    Regulatory Engagement Manager, CBA