About

Ela has recently been appointed as a Senior Manager, Financial Crime Controls, Risks and Policy & Advisory within the Compliance function at ICBC Standard Bank.

In her previous role with Commerzbank AG London, she led the AML Monitoring and Investigation team and acted as Fraud Officer for the London Branch, leading the Anti-Fraud Programme and ensuring oversight and implementation of the respective local and global governance. She was responsible for managing complex investigations across different business platforms and critical input in developing anti-financial crime policies, procedures, measures, and controls. While at Commerzbank, Ela closely interacted with the Joint Money Laundering Task Force (JMLIT), enabling the Bank to contribute to live investigations. Before joining Commerzbank in 2018, Ela served in a similar investigative role at Citibank NA for over ten years, gaining experience in financial crime, including fraud investigations and AML.

Ela holds a Master`s degree in Criminal Studies from the University of Portsmouth, Institute of Criminal Justice Studies and achieved several other financial crime-related certifications, i.e., ACAMS, ACFE and ECCP.

At the beginning of her career, Ela had the opportunity to train with the Analysis Training Unit at Greater Manchester Police and attended several training courses with the City of London Police to develop knowledge on a comprehensive range of financial crime topics across the spectrum from foundation level to industry experts.