Senior Client Onboarding, KYC & KYT Officer

Job description

Excited to grow your career? BBVA is a global company with more than 160 years of history that operates in more than 25 countries where we serve more than 80 million customers. We are more than 121,000 professionals working in multidisciplinary teams with profiles as diverse as financiers, legal experts, data scientists, developers, engineers and designers. At BBVA we are leading the transformation of banking worldwide, united in pursuing our goal of supporting your drive to go further. Firmly focused on the future, our on-going digital transformation is already producing disruptive innovations that power our vision of banking. Building on 160 years of history we know the importance of constant development, which is why we place so much confidence in the collaborative working environment that enables our people to grow and excel. For over 50 years, BBVA in Switzerland has been helping clients manage their wealth with a global outlook, Swiss precision, and a philosophy that blends tradition with innovation. From Zurich to the world, we provide tailored solutions for those who value both strategy and trust. Yet, our greatest strength lies in our people: an international, diverse, and highly skilled team that combines financial expertise with a digital mindset and innovative spirit. Continuous learning, cross-cultural collaboration, and career growth that makes a real impact in our clients’ lives drive everything we do, shaping both the way we work and the opportunities we create for our team. Joining BBVA in Switzerland means being part of a global bank, working on pioneering projects in private and digital banking, and growing within a culture that listens, evolves, and strives to make a difference. BBVA is a Spanish bank with its Swiss offices located in Zürich About the job: Functions (duties and responsibilities) Review and approve onboarding files for individuals and legal entities, including complex and high-risk structures, ensuring completeness, accuracy and compliance with CDB 20, FINMA expectations and internal directives/guidelines. Review FATCA, QI and CDB formalities for consistency with CRS/AEI formalities, identifying inconsistencies and escalating material issues where required. Control, validate and approve captured customer data and account documentation, ensuring data quality, traceability and adequate audit trail. Capture, assess and follow up on deficiencies detected during onboarding, periodic reviews and client lifecycle management processes. Challenge Front Office on documentation quality, missing information, risk assessments, economic rationale, transactional rationale and justification of complex client structures when required. Oversee and perform client onboarding, KYC due diligence and periodic review processes, including enhanced due diligence, AML-related clarifications, PEP assessments and other higher-risk factors. Perform and review periodic KYC reviews for existing client relationships, ensuring that client information, risk indicators, Source of Wealth, Source of Funds, expected account activity and transactional profile remain complete, consistent and up to date. Apply strong Know Your Transaction (KYT) knowledge to assess transactional behaviour, expected account activity, transactional rationale and potential inconsistencies with the client profile, escalating unusual or unexplained activity where appropriate. Perform complex onboarding and periodic review assessments for high-risk clients, including PEPs, complex ownership structures, trusts, foundations, holding companies, cross-border relationships, EAMs and other sophisticated private banking structures. Assess Source of Wealth and Source of Funds information and challenge the adequacy, plausibility and evidential quality of supporting documentation where necessary. Provide expert advice and guidance to the Front Office on onboarding, KYC, KYT, AML, CDB, FATCA, CRS/AEI and related client lifecycle topics. Act as subject matter expert for onboarding, KYC, KYT and AML requirements within the first line of defence. Review and validate work performed by junior onboarding team members, ensuring consistency of standards, risk-based judgement and quality of execution. Provide coaching and training to onboarding specialists and Front Office teams on documentation standards, KYC quality, KYT awareness, periodic review expectations and risk-based judgement. Lead initiatives with Legal, Compliance, Risk and Front Office management to strengthen onboarding, KYC, KYT and periodic review controls, streamline procedures and improve operational efficiency. Communicate and explain complex documentary, KYC, KYT and AML matters to relevant stakeholders, including senior management of the Bank. Coordinate and support audit fieldwork, including preparing files, addressing auditor queries and ensuring remediation actions are adequately evidenced. Prepare management information, quality indicators and KPIs related to onboarding and periodic review volumes, deficiencies, ageing, turnaround times, escalations and remediation progress. Participate in committees, working groups and remediation initiatives related to KYC, AML, KYT, client lifecycle management, onboarding and periodic review process enhancement. Support the implementation of regulatory, audit and internal policy changes affecting client onboarding, KYC, KYT and periodic review processes. Complete and review account opening documentation and ensure that all required documentation is properly obtained, recorded and retained. Your profile Degree in law, business administration, economics, finance or a related field. A master’s degree in law, compliance, risk management or a related discipline is highly desired. ACAMS certification is desired. Additional AML, Compliance, Risk Management or Swiss banking certifications are considered a strong advantage. Minimum 7–10 years of experience in client onboarding, KYC, KYT, periodic reviews and AML within private banking, wealth management or a comparable international banking environment. Strong knowledge of Swiss banking regulations and standards, including FINMA expectations, AMLA/AMLO-FINMA, CDB, FATCA, CRS/AEI and QI requirements. Advanced knowledge of complex private banking structures, including trusts, foundations, holding companies, complex beneficial ownership chains, cross-border arrangements, EAM relationships and other sophisticated structures. Proven experience performing and documenting Source of Wealth, Source of Funds, PEP, high-risk client and complex structure assessments. Strong KYT understanding, including assessment of expected account activity, transactional rationale, transactional consistency with the client profile and identification of unusual or unexplained activity. Solid experience in periodic KYC reviews and client lifecycle management, including risk reassessment, documentation refresh, deficiency management and escalation of material changes in the client risk profile. Strong understanding of customer risk rating methodologies and the connection between KYC quality, periodic reviews, transactional behaviour and ongoing monitoring. Experience with audit remediation, regulatory reviews, internal control enhancement or KYC transformation programmes is highly desirable. Accustomed to working with a very large amount of documentation, both physical and digital, while maintaining strong quality standards and traceability. Experience managing the general physical archive of documentation is an advantage. Proactive attitude and desire to contribute to the Bank by improving processes, controls and client experience. Highly organised, structured and accurate way of working, with strong ability to prioritise complex cases and meet deadlines. Committed, responsible and resilient personality. Customer-oriented attitude and capability to work under pressure without losing focus, while applying sound risk-based judgement. High level of discretion and trustworthiness. Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team and to influence stakeholders constructively across Front Office, Legal, Compliance, Risk and Operations. Ability to challenge business stakeholders constructively while maintaining effective working relationships. Leadership, mentoring and coaching skills, with the ability to support junior team members and raise quality standards across the function. Knowledge of client onboarding, KYC, KYT and data management systems. Experience with banking platforms, workflow tools and digital onboarding solutions is a strong asset. Full professional proficiency in English is required. Spanish is an advantage. Knowledge of additional languages, such as German or French, is considered a plus. Skills: Client Onboarding, Customer Risk, Documentations, English Language, Know Your Customer (KYC), Periodic Reviews