The Wolfsberg Group is a highly respected association of thirteen major global banks which aims to develop frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks.

15 February 2023.
Carolina Garcés, global head of Financial Crime Compliance at Santander, has been named co-chair of the Wolfsberg Group by the primary delegates of its member banks under a two-year mandate.

The members of the Wolfsberg Group include the heads of financial crime compliance for thirteen influential, global banks – Banco Santander, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan Chase, MUFG Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS.

The Group is known for publishing guidance and standards for the financial services industry on key financial crime compliance challenges, including for example correspondent banking, principles on the application of artificial intelligence in compliance, risk management of customer relationships via digital channels, innovative payment methods, and more.

The principal focus of the Group is in ensuring financial crime compliance frameworks are effective – that is, that they are built to comply with regulation, provide highly useful information to law enforcement, and mitigate the risks that a financial institution is used to facilitate illegal activity.

Ms. Garces replaces David Howes, from Standard Chartered. Ms. Garces will serve as co-chair with existing co-chair William Langford, from MUFG Bank.

Ms. Garces joined Santander in 2019, having previously held senior roles at multinational financial institutions such as HSBC, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and RBS. Ms. Garces is the architect behind Santander’s financial crime compliance strategic transformation programme, focused on effective sanctions screening, next generation transaction monitoring, and sustainable, dynamic approaches to customer due diligence.

Ms. Garces’ role as co-chair is effective immediately and her term will run through to the end of 2024.

More information on Santander’s financial crime compliance programme is available here.

More information on the Wolfsberg Group is available here.