From 09:00 until 15:00 on Saturday 19 May 2018, UCLan Cyprus hosted another advanced professional course. This one was practical as it focused on how to structure an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Compliance Manual. The course was attended by 25 or so attendees from the legal profession, the financial services industry, business and academia.
The course was delivered by three speakers.
One was Christian Pelaghias, a Swedish advocate practising as a Registered European Lawyer in the Republic of Cyprus where he is the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance officer in Chr. G. Pelaghias & Co LLC, a law firm based in Larnaca. Mr Pelaghias is a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and a founding member as well as member of the board of directors of the Cyprus Chapter of ACAMS.
Another speaker was Nassos Paltayian, a Chartered Accountant who is a portfolio manager at Abacus Limited in Nicosia and a founding member as well as Vice-Chair of the Cyprus Chapter of ACAMS. Among other roles, he is the Vice-Chair of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) Compliance Committee and an HRDA-approved trainer.
The other speaker was the chair of the course, Dr Klearchos A. Kyriakides, an Assistant Professor of Law at UCLan Cyprus. He qualified as a solicitor in London before leaving private practice to dedicate himself to undergraduate, postgraduate and executive legal education.
The course provided delegates with evidence-based, realistic and practical insights into what is required to create, operate, update and audit a compliance manual. Following the chair’s general introduction, which put the course into its wider context, the course was sub-divided into the following specific elements:
Element 1: Understanding Internal Policies, Procedures and Controls
Element 2: The Compliance Officer
Element 3: Understanding the Risk Based Approach
Element 4: The Training Programme
Element 5: The Independent Audit
Element 6: Know Your Customer Procedures
Element 7: Information Security
Element 8: Practical Examples and Real Life Experiences
The course embodied a short lunch at which the attendees were able to discuss what they had learnt, put questions to the speakers and network.
At the close of the course, each attendee received a certificate of attendance as evidence of their participation in an event which assisted in their continuing professional development.
The School of Law of UCLan Cyprus is grateful to the attendees. It is also grateful for the very positive feedback which they gave and for their suggestions as to which topics may be considered in future courses of this nature. The School of Law looks forward to offering additional professional courses. In the meantime, it welcomes suggestions as to which compliance-related or legal topics might be chosen for the benefit of attendees in the future. For obvious reasons, the School of Law is particularly keen to hear from members of the legal profession as to which courses could be arranged to help them engage in continuing professional education.
For further information, please contact [email protected].
