Customer Due Diligence and Beneficial Ownership

Customer Due Diligence and Beneficial Ownership is a practical, risk focused course designed to strengthen how financial services professionals understand and manage customer risk. As Course 2 of 6 in the StudyAML Global Core AML Series, it focuses on the application of Customer Due Diligence across onboarding and the customer lifecycle, aligned to FATF standards and international regulatory expectations. This course matters because weak CDD and beneficial ownership controls remain a leading cause of regulatory breaches, enforcement action, and financial crime exposure. Clear judgment. Strong controls. Defensible decisions.

20 - 25 minutes

Certificate Included

British Virgin Islands

Description

This self paced course on Customer Due Diligence and Beneficial Ownership provides a practical, principles based understanding of how firms should identify, verify, and monitor customers in line with international AML, CFT, and Counter Proliferation Financing expectations. Designed to be completed in approximately 20 to 25 minutes, the course is suitable for client facing staff, onboarding teams, compliance professionals, and risk specialists operating across multiple jurisdictions. The course is aligned with FATF Recommendations, with particular focus on customer identification, beneficial ownership transparency, and the risk based approach. Learners will explore when and how CDD must be applied, how to distinguish between standard, simplified, and enhanced due diligence, and how beneficial ownership should be identified in both simple and complex structures. The course also addresses verification using reliable and independent sources, including electronic verification tools, and explains common failures that undermine compliance. Through realistic scenarios, learners will understand how ongoing monitoring, escalation, and record keeping work in practice, and what regulators expect firms to demonstrate through evidence, judgment, and governance.

What will you learn?

Module 1: Customer Due Diligence RequirementsThis module explains what Customer Due Diligence means in practice and how it supports effective AML and CFT controls. Learners will understand when CDD must be applied, how the risk based approach influences the depth of due diligence, and how international standards such as FATF are reflected in regulatory expectations across jurisdictions.
Module 2: Identifying Customers and Beneficial OwnersThis module focuses on identifying natural persons and legal persons, applying ownership and control tests, and understanding beneficial ownership. Learners will explore how complex structures are assessed, why transparency matters, and how failures in beneficial ownership identification create regulatory and financial crime risk.
Module 3: Verification of IdentityThis module covers how customer and beneficial owner identities are verified using reliable and independent sources. Learners will examine the use of electronic verification, common verification weaknesses, and how to apply judgment when results raise concerns, consistent with supervisory guidance and audit expectations.
Module 4: Ongoing MonitoringThis module explains how Customer Due Diligence continues after onboarding through ongoing monitoring. Learners will understand transaction monitoring expectations, common trigger events for CDD refresh, and how to respond, escalate, and document changes in customer risk.
Module 5: Record Keeping ObligationsThis module focuses on record keeping as evidence of compliance. Learners will understand retention expectations, accessibility requirements, and how records support audits, inspections, and regulatory reviews, reinforcing governance, accountability, and compliance culture.