Financial Crime Investigator

About this role

Contract

Permanent (Full Time )

Job description

We have an exciting opportunity to join us as a Financial Crime Investigator, supporting the launch of a new telephony-based Financial Crime team within the 1st Line. In this role, you’ll take ownership of escalated cases to assess financial crime risk and drive the right outcomes.

You’ll be responsible for handling escalations and contacting customers directly to obtain key information and complete due diligence, ensuring decisions are accurate, risk-focused and aligned to policy requirements. This is a hands-on role where you’ll balance investigative work with customer interaction in a fast-paced, telephony-driven environment.

You’ll play an important role in embedding how the new team operates, bringing a keen eye for detail and strong communication skills to support effective decision making.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this role, you'll be based at your nearest regional office or hub. We value time spent together to connect with colleagues for collaboration so there will be a regular requirement to attend our Gosforth*site approximately *once per week. If you are based at an office location, you'll be expected to meet our hybrid working requirement of at least two days a week, or 40% of your working time if part-time, in the office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works.

Virgin Money is now part of Nationwide

Nationwide acquired Virgin Money in October 2024. Virgin Money continues to serve customers on the high street, and there will be a phased and considered integration over the coming years.

You’ll be employed by Nationwide from day one, delivering real impact and benefitting from a highly competitive range of benefits. We’re a workplace where you’re rewarded, recognised and celebrated.

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

What you’ll be doing

You will be responsible for carrying out thorough due diligence and customer verification on medium and high risk customers, ensuring risks are accurately assessed and clearly documented. The role involves independently completing periodic reviews, managing escalations by engaging directly with customers to gather and clarify information, and maintaining professional, well recorded interactions that support robust risk decisions.

You will conduct detailed investigations into sanctions, politically exposed persons and anti money laundering alerts, including analysing financial activity, adverse media findings and sources of wealth or funds to assess potential risks to the business. Working closely with financial crime specialists, you will provide guidance to colleagues, contribute to strengthening controls, and highlight emerging risks or trends. The position also includes identifying and escalating suspicious activity, reviewing high risk jurisdiction cases, and responding to legal and law enforcement requests in line with regulatory requirements and strict timelines, including representing the organisation in court where required.

About you

• Experience working in a telephony or contact centre environment, including handling inbound/outbound calls and managing customer interactions effectively.
• Experience of working within a financial crime environment.
• Knowledge of Customer Risk Assessments, Client Screening, Payment Filtering, Transaction Monitoring or an AML role.
• A keen eye for detail and be able to present your findings/thoughts on investigations in a clear and concise manner
• The ability to analyse detailed information and be able to draw sophisticated conclusions and/or recommendations from the facts/data provided
• The ability to work autonomously with excellent time management skills
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Microsoft Office and Excel knowledge

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 25 days holiday, pro rata
• Private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance-related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death
• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.

Once we’ve received your application successfully, we will invite you to the first stage; our online assessments!

Within a few hours you’ll receive a link to your unique candidate hub – here we’ll ask you to complete some online assessments within 48 hours of applying; these include a situational judgement test, checking and numerical assessments – all focussed around what’s important to us in a member facing role at Nationwide.

In your candidate hub you’ll also be able to get hints and tips and watch videos from our colleagues giving you a really good idea of what it’s like to work here at Nationwide.

About fraud prevention roles for ex-police

Fraud investigation, detection and financial-crime roles in banks, insurers and public bodies. Detective and economic-crime backgrounds map straight across, often with hybrid working and clear progression.