Working in Compliance and AML/CTF related jobs

Everyday Islamic Finance Business and Career Questions
#1

As salaamu alaykum,
May everyone have a blessed and wonderful weekend with their families.

I have 2 questions,

  1. I’m currently working for a conventional finance company whose main core business is issuing identifiers for funds that are not listed on the stock exchange (think of it like LSE but for unlisted funds) and issuing identifiers for companies as a part of regulatory reporting rules imposed by the government. These companies may do derivative transactions, shares and forex trading. What’s the halal status of my job? I’m a bit worried as I have no control the companies’ transactions.

  2. I’m looking into a career change into compliance field within financial services industries. I’m interested to do something related to FinCrime prevention, KYC and AML (Anti Money Laundering)/CTF (Counter Terrorism Financing) type of stuff. Unfortunately majority of these jobs are offered by conventional banks where I live. Another possibility is working for a consultancy firm or Big 4 accounting firm or Gov department who hire FinCrime analysts to do projects for banks/financial industries.
    The job responsibilities are usually monitoring transactions (could very well be using the bank’s system), screening sanctions, reconciliation, risk management etc. Would it be something halal to have a career in?

I appreciate your advice in this @Mufti_Faraz_Adam @Mufti_Billal @ibrahimkhan

Jazakumullahu khairan

#2

On the first - sounds fine in my humble view.

On the second, I would avoid banks but fine to work in big 4/govt. A more lenient hanafi view would allow such work in the banks too (as not directly haram work).

#3

Wasalam

May Allah bless you.

I second @ibrahimkhan on this.

And Allah knows best!

#4

Salamu alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatu,

I have been working for a company that pays the employees from its funds they get from a lot of customers, some customers are banks and some customers are goverment and other big more halal customers.

However I still work in the KYC / AML field. Anti money laundering / know your customer field.
It has to do with investigating possible criminal money laundering and stopping those accounts.
It has been forced upon banks by goverment regulations and banks only spend money on these departments/ dont make money from these departments. Its like you work as an analyst to stop the flow of illegal criminal money and to try to stop people who launder money and dont try to comply with the goverments rules regarding paying taxes.

I dont directly work for the bank but our company might place you in a project for a bank but again, it costs the bank money and they dont receive money from us, nor do we work with interest.

I would love to know a bit more about your view on this for some peace of mind and Allah knows best.

Barrak Allah feek.