Strengthening AML Report Writing at a Major Canadian Bank
Our client, the Financial Crimes division of one of Canada’s six largest banks, plays a vital role in safeguarding the financial system across Canada and the U.S. The Anti-Money Laundering (AML) team is tasked with detecting and preventing illicit activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing. Their work involves monitoring transactions, investigating suspicious behavior, and submitting regulatory filings—Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) in Canada and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in the U.S.
A cornerstone of their operations is the ability to produce clear, detailed investigative reports. These documents outline findings, support regulatory filings, and enable law enforcement action. However, AML people managers were increasingly frustrated by the poor quality of these reports. They found themselves rewriting their team’s submissions, which were often unclear and lacked structure. The managers approached us for a solution: a writing course tailored specifically to the needs of AML investigators.
Our Customized Training Solution
We designed two targeted one-day courses—one for STR writers and one for SAR writers. Our approach began with gathering sanitized writing samples from the team’s manager. We then revised portions of these samples to demonstrate the writing techniques we teach. For deeper engagement, we reverse-engineered an entire investigative report into a case study scenario, scrambling the content and providing a suggested answer for learners to refer to during and after the course.
Subject matter experts reviewed and approved our rewrites before we integrated them into the training. This ensured accuracy and relevance to the AML context.
How We Delivered Impactful Learning
We used the customized content in four key ways:
- Illustrating Techniques: Participants saw their own writing transformed—making content more concise, improving clarity, and enhancing scannability. These real-world examples often sparked “Aha!” moments.
- Hands-On Practice: Learners applied techniques directly to familiar sentences, reinforcing skills through immediate application.
- Case Study Scenarios: Pre-course work included drafting responses to a customized case study. During the course, participants revised their drafts and compared rewrites in breakout groups, using our suggested answer as a benchmark.
- Supplementary Handouts: We provided handouts with all customized exercises and model answers, giving participants a reference to use long after the course ended.
To support long-term learning and protect our client’s investment, we also ran short sessions for managers. These introduced the strategies their teams learned and taught managers how to serve as writing coaches, reinforcing the training and helping their teams become better independent writers.
Lasting Impact
The training was so successful that we are now part of the AML orientation program for new hires, helping them learn how to write clear, actionable investigative reports from day one.
What Participants Said
“I liked that it was tailored to STRs and taught relevant skills - especially the scannability skills. It was also helpful to discuss in depth who our audience is and what they need from us to do their job - it seems obvious but I think having had to sit down and consider that will positively improve my future STRs.”
“Anyone, regardless of position, who is writing a report would be able to benefit from the tips and items learned from this course.”
“Financial investigator teams would benefit from this course as we spend most of our time writing reports and commentaries etc. Impactful training you will use every day and everyone will learn something new.”
“It's a wonderful and engaging course that will help one's writing process with various practical techniques that can be adopted.”
