Company Overview:

Morgan Stanley Investment Management China (MSIM China), strives to provide diverse investment management services to a full spectrum of clients across both individual and institutional investors. Established as a joint venture in 2008, MSIM China became fully owned by Morgan Stanley Investment Management in 2023.

Benefiting from the global perspective and risk management capability of Morgan Stanley, MSIM China has established a variety of mutual fund and private fund portfolios covering fixed income, active equity, quantitative equity, multi-asset and sustainable investing strategies. Our portfolios have won many prestigious awards, including Morningstar Awards and Golden Bull Awards, which is a testament to our expertise and capabilities.

Position Overview:

The first-line Financial Crimes Risk team is embedded within the Investment Management business and serves as the first line of defense for financial-crimes risk. It is responsible for identifying, assessing, escalating and helping to remediate money-laundering, sanctions and reputational risks associated with the firm’s funds, managed accounts, distribution partners and clients. The team owns first-line know-your-customer (KYC), enhanced due diligence, screening and onboarding oversight, working within the firm’s global financial-crimes framework and in close partnership with the regional and global Financial Crimes functions, the business, Operations, Technology and Legal & Compliance. This role delivers dedicated onshore coverage for the Investment Management business in China while operating under the direction of the regional Financial Crimes function.

The Vice President, Financial Crimes Risk, is the dedicated onshore first-line financial-crimes resource for the firm’s Investment Management business in China, based in Shenzhen. Reporting to the local Chief Operating Office and matrixed into the regional Financial Crimes Risk team, the role provides advisory support and risk oversight across customer onboarding, screening, enhanced due diligence, transaction reviews and financial-crimes initiatives.

Working closely with Operations, Compliance, Legal and the business, and taking direction from the regional and global Financial Crimes functions, the role helps drive effective risk management, regulatory compliance and operational excellence as local anti-money-laundering (AML) and KYC requirements continue to expand – including full-population periodic reviews, enhanced screening, and multi-year AML systems transformation. A dedicated onshore presence is essential to engage local stakeholders in real time, meet local data-residency and privacy requirements, and ensure consistent, well-coordinated execution between the onshore business and the wider Financial Crimes organization.

What you'll do in the role: (1LOD)

Serve as the dedicated onshore first-line point of contact and financial-crimes subject-matter expert for the Investment Management business in China, providing real-time advisory and escalation support to Operations, Compliance, Legal and the business, while coordinating closely with, and taking direction from, the regional Financial Crimes function.

Provide first-line advisory on KYC and customer due diligence – resolving incomplete-KYC and data-quality issues, escalating material matters, and supporting the timely onboarding of clients within standard industry timeframes.

Manage the increase in review volumes arising from data-driven periodic reviews across the full client population and the uplift to enhanced global KYC standards.

Review and disposition sanctions and negative-news screening alerts – clearing false positives and escalating genuine matches with supporting analysis to the relevant Financial Crimes and Legal stakeholders – and adapt to new screening tools and expanded matching logic that drive higher daily volumes.

Perform reviews of post-transaction daily screening, escalating sanctions-related alerts and ensuring same-day clearance to avoid delays to client applications and asset settlements.

Respond to time-sensitive trading-desk escalations relating to bond issuers and counterparties – conducting screenings and preparing risk assessments and escalation narratives for Financial Crimes and Legal stakeholders within tight deadlines.

Conduct enhanced due diligence (EDD) reviews – completing due diligence forms, assessing screening results, and covering expanded scope such as beneficial-ownership, source-of-wealth and source-of-funds analysis – obtaining the required approvals, escalating material findings to the regional Financial Crimes function, and presenting material cases to the relevant governance committee where required.

Coordinate with Operations and Sales teams, including outreach to distribution partners, to gather and analyze information for suspicious-transaction reviews prior to escalation.

Drive onshore delivery of the firm’s AML systems transformation and related regulatory-remediation initiatives – contributing to design, testing, tuning and rollout – while aligning to global standards and regional direction, and support the interim manual processes that remain in place pending implementation.

What you’ll bring to the role:

• 8+ years of relevant experience in financial-crimes risk, AML/KYC and/or sanctions, ideally within asset or investment management, banking, or at a financial services regulator.
• Hands-on experience across KYC and customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence, sanctions and negative-news screening, alert dispositioning, and the escalation of genuine matches.
• Solid, practical knowledge of sanctions regimes and sanctions screening is essential, including the assessment and escalation of potential matches and an understanding of the relevant regulatory expectations.
• Working knowledge of the China regulatory environment (for example, People’s Bank of China and China Securities Regulatory Commission expectations), and an awareness of conflicts-of-law considerations between international sanctions requirements and the PRC Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, is a strong advantage.
• Familiarity with screening, transaction-monitoring and AML/KYC systems used in a financial services environment; experience supporting AML systems implementations or upgrades is a plus.
• Based onshore in China (Shenzhen) with the right to work locally; full professional fluency in both English and Mandarin is required to operate effectively in this environment.
• Strong understanding of AML/CFT and KYC requirements and first-line procedures; regulatory remediation and audit-response experience at a large, international firm is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance or a related field; a recognized anti-money-laundering or financial-crimes certification is advantageous.
• High integrity, sound judgment, and the ability to handle highly confidential information – including sensitive client data – with appropriate discretion.

What you can expect from Morgan Stanley:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years.  Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work. To learn more about our offices across the globe, please visit  https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.