Q&A with Cuan Els, Deputy Head of Financial Crime

We sat down with Cuan Els, Deputy Head of Financial Crime, to discuss his role at BCB Group.

Q: Describe your job role at BCB Group

Cuan: In short, my job is to protect BCB! 

The financial crime team is a team of highly skilled crime fighters who serve to identify bad actors and prevent them from conducting any illicit business with and through their BCB accounts. The team and I keep a very close eye on all of our existing clients activity, making sure they use their accounts appropriately and how they explained they would when they onboarded with BCB.  Over and above this, I also interact with key internal and external stakeholders to constantly improve our controls, processes and procedures to maintain a standard of best practice, as well as standing in for the Global Head of Financial Crime as her deputy to ensure the firm and the team always have the correct escalation path available.

Q: What does a typical work day look like for you?

Cuan: Criminals never sleep, and are constantly evolving the way they conduct themselves, so no two days are ever the same. A normal day involves serving as a point of escalation to the Financial Crime team, the business as well as the day to day management of the transaction monitoring team. I love my role as I get to be involved in so many aspects of the firm such as overseeing our Cryptocurrency Transaction and Blockchain Analytics for our Markets OTC desk. 

I’m a bit of a Swiss Army knife, and when I am not engaging with clients, I spend my time reviewing and improving our own internal controls, and seeing how we as a team and business, can improve. I also support the Global Head of Financial Crime and Chief Compliance Officer in engagements with partner banks, auditors and regulators, as well as frequent internal collaborations with the Onboarding team, Customer Success team, Product team and Payment – Ops team to create a more synchronised and unified function. It’s busy, fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Q: Why did you choose to go into this industry?

Cuan: Having spent the first 3 years of my career as a practising solicitor and pivoting to corporate compliance for a few years, my passion was always to get into the banking and finance sector. During the Covid pandemic, I spent a large part of my time researching, understanding and investing in cryptocurrency and coming out of the pandemic I knew where I wanted to take my career. BCB presented me with all these opportunities and then some! I’m very lucky that BCB affords me the place to  spend everyday doing something I love, whilst continuously learning about an industry and career  I’m so passionate about!

Q: What are the major themes that you’re seeing come out of the crypto industry at the moment from your perspective?

Cuan: From a more holistic view, 2024 has been a culmination of old and new trends. The halving always brings about a buzz of anticipation for the (hopefully) next bull run, and the small resurgence of meme coins. The rapid growth of AI and tokenization has the potential of defining the next few years and I can’t wait to see what comes out of it.

From a financial crime perspective, the use of cryptocurrency, and particularly stablecoins, being used for international remittance is something we are certainly keeping a close eye on due to the ease in which it can be moved across borders. We are also spending time getting to grips with MICAR and its pending implementation later this year.

Q: If you had to describe BCB Group in one word, what would it be?

Cuan: Innovative. The team is constantly trying to push the boundaries of what it means to be a fintech, and that feels amazing to be a part of.

Q: What is your favourite thing about BCB?

Cuan: The thing that stands out almost immediately at BCB is the passion each and every individual has. BCB doesn’t feel like a typical company. It feels like a family that all share a common goal in making BCB as successful as possible. 

I mentioned it earlier, but I never stop learning at BCB, and that is largely down to being surrounded by incredibly intelligent, resourceful and passionate people. I’mm constantly astonished by the ideas, innovation and knowledge that my colleagues demonstrate.

Q: What are your interests outside of BCB Group?

Cuan: Coming from South Africa, I love the outdoors, be it a hike up Snowdon, a walk through the local parks or playing a round of golf, I’m always on the move. I love my food, and I’m working my way through the seemingly endless amounts of interesting and exciting cuisines the UK has to offer. If I am relaxing at home, you will usually find me in the back garden near the barbeque (“Braai” for my fellow South Africans) cooking up a storm and getting some sun!