About

Owen Kennedy is Bank of America’s Head of Financial Crimes for the EU and Switzerland and is the MLRO for Bank of America Europe, Bank of America’s Ireland-headquartered EU banking entity. In this role, Owen is responsible for oversight of all aspects of Bank of America’s Financial Crimes Program in the EU and Switzerland and for ensuring that the measures that have been implemented to prevent and detect financial crimes are effective.

Prior to joining Bank of America in late 2018, Owen spent 19 years in Bank of Ireland where, most recently, he held the role of Group Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Group MLRO.  Whilst in this role, Owen:

• Led Bank of Ireland’s multi-year Financial Crime Compliance Improvement Program. This program, which successfully concluded in 2017, delivered, inter alia:
  • An end-to-end, enterprise-wide and digitally enabled Customer Due Diligence technology platform;
  • New transaction monitoring and sanctions screening platforms;
  • Offshore KYC Centers of Excellence in the Netherlands and India; and
  • Enhanced business and customer risk assessment methodologies.
• Established, in collaboration with the Head of the National Economic Crime Bureau in Ireland, the Joint Intelligence Group, a Public Private Partnership between Ireland’s major retail banks and the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Prior to being appointed as Group Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Owen was Head of Compliance and Operational Risk for Bank of Ireland’s Corporate Banking and Business Banking lines of business.

Owen holds a Bachelor of Science degree from University College Dublin; is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist; and is a Licentiate of the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland.