AML/ CFT Glossary

This Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism glossary provides a consistent, practical terminology base for organisations seeking to strengthen the clarity and operational effectiveness of their financial crime compliance arrangements. It is designed to reduce ambiguity in how key AML/CTF concepts are interpreted and applied across the business, supporting more consistent decision-making, clearer documentation, and more defensible outcomes in both internal assurance work and external regulatory engagement.

Structured by core AML/CTF themes, the glossary offers clear definitions used in everyday compliance practice, enabling teams to work from a shared language when developing policies, delivering training, onboarding customers, investigating alerts, or preparing management information. It is relevant to compliance and financial crime teams, onboarding and customer operations, risk management, internal audit, and senior stakeholders who require concise, standardised terminology for governance and oversight.

The glossary addresses governance and programme fundamentals, including accountability, internal controls, escalation routes, quality assurance, and evidence expectations, providing a foundation for effective programme design and operational ownership. It also sets out key risk concepts and risk assessment language, such as enterprise-wide risk assessment, inherent and residual risk, segmentation, and trigger events, supporting a proportionate risk-based approach across customer types, products, delivery channels, and geographies.

For operational delivery, it includes terminology commonly used in customer and entity due diligence, beneficial ownership assessment, and financial profile analysis, including concepts such as source of funds and source of wealth. It further standardises language used in monitoring, investigations, and case management, supporting consistent alert handling, documentation quality, and escalation decisions. The glossary also covers confidentiality and reporting safeguards, including record retention and tipping-off considerations, as well as sanctions and counter-proliferation terminology relevant to screening and restrictive measures.

Recognising the evolving risk landscape, it includes third-party and outsourcing terms and a dedicated section addressing virtual asset and digital finance concepts, supporting organisations operating in, or exposed to, crypto-asset related activity. An accompanying abbreviations list is included to promote consistent internal communication and documentation standards.