Samantha Sheen – Council of Europe

Sam Sheen has been a professional involved in risk management, compliance, and financial crime prevention for over 15 years, working for a wide variety of financial institutions in various jurisdictions. Holding roles ranging from Head of Group Compliance, MLRO, DPO and Head of Transformation Implementation, Sam takes a pragmatic and forward-looking approach towards the interpretation and application of AML/CFT regulatory requirements.

Sam’s scope of work extends to advising both FinTechs, VASPs and RegTech providers to support them in tackling fit-for-purpose design requirements, operational challenges, and unanticipated bumps along the AML/CFT compliance highway as their businesses scale. Having also worked as a AML/CFT supervisor, heading Enforcement, AML/CFT and most recently cross sectoral Supervision Divisions, Sam works closely with regulators and other agencies across Europe and beyond, on everything from conducting sectoral assessments of the virtual asset sector to improving the use of data in the risk assessment and monitoring of obliged entities.

Originally from Montreal, Canada Sam regularly chairs AML/CFT-themed events, provides engaging training to both the public and private sector, produces and contributes to innovative AML/CFT thought leadership publications, and is an all-round champion of stakeholders who put in the hard yards to detect, prevent and disrupt financial crime. Formal education, qualifications etc can be found on Linkedin.