Fraud Investigations Manager

Leverages banking, fraud, investigative, and financial crimes expertise to oversee and manage the Bank's Fraud Investigations Unit under the direction of the Director of Corporate Fraud. Responsible for the management of internal and external fraud investigations, fraud recovery efforts, investigative quality assurance, intelligence gathering and sharing, case management governance, investigative reporting, and fraud awareness initiatives. Serves as the Fraud Investigations Unit's primary point of contact for investigative matters involving business lines, financial institution partners, BSA/AML, Compliance, Human Resources, Legal, and other stakeholders. Provides guidance and support regarding fraud investigations, suspicious activity, recovery efforts, fraud trends, and emerging threats identified through investigative activities. Identifies investigative trends, recurring fraud schemes, recovery opportunities, control weaknesses, and operational gaps identified through investigations and recommends enhancements to strengthen fraud mitigation efforts. Supports fraud-related projects, technology initiatives, case management enhancements, and process improvement efforts by providing investigative subject matter expertise. Responsible for maintaining effective case management standards, developing meaningful investigative reporting and metrics, and ensuring investigations are conducted in accordance with Bank policy, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices. Requires the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-volume, real-time environment, manage multiple priorities simultaneously, make complex risk-based decisions with limited information, and perform effectively under pressure while maintaining sound judgment, professionalism, and attention to detail.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Oversees and manages the daily activities of the Fraud Investigations Unit. Ensures internal and external fraud investigations are conducted timely, thoroughly, consistently, and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and procedures. Oversees investigations involving account takeover, check fraud, ACH fraud, wire fraud, elder financial exploitation, money mule activity, identity theft, cyber-enabled fraud, new account fraud, loan fraud, employee misconduct, and other financial crimes. Reviews investigative findings, case summaries, disposition decisions, recovery efforts, and investigative reports for completeness, accuracy, and quality. Conducts periodic reviews of investigative work to ensure compliance with departmental standards and established procedures. Oversees internal fraud and employee misconduct investigations in partnership with Human Resources, Legal, Information Security, and other stakeholders as appropriate. Oversees fraud recovery efforts and develops strategies intended to maximize recoveries and minimize fraud-related losses. Coordinates recovery activities involving financial institutions, payment networks, vendors, customers, business partners, and internal stakeholders. Maintains working knowledge of hold harmless agreements, breach of warranty claims, indemnification processes, adjustments, recovery letters, and other fraud recovery practices. Collects, analyzes, and disseminates intelligence related to organized fraud groups, money mule activity, account takeover schemes, elder financial exploitation, check fraud, wire fraud, cyber-enabled fraud, and emerging fraud threats. Develops and distributes fraud intelligence bulletins, fraud alerts, security communications, and awareness materials as appropriate. Oversees investigative case management standards, documentation requirements, workflow practices, reporting standards, and record retention requirements. Identifies opportunities to improve investigative workflows, case management processes, recovery efforts, reporting capabilities, automation, and operational efficiency. Oversees the Fraud Investigations Quality Assurance Program and ensures identified issues are addressed appropriately. Reviews Suspicious Referral Forms (SRFs) and ensures appropriate escalation of suspicious activity for SAR consideration. Maintains familiarity with FinCEN SAR requirements, regulatory expectations, and fraud-related industry guidance. Reviews significant fraud incidents and investigative outcomes to identify trends, vulnerabilities, recurring fraud schemes, and opportunities for process improvements. Performs root cause analysis associated with recurring fraud losses, significant fraud incidents, and operational control weaknesses identified through investigations. Develops and maintains investigative metrics, fraud loss reporting, recovery reporting, trend analysis, dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs). Participates in the evaluation, testing, implementation, enhancement, and optimization of fraud investigation technologies and case management solutions. Provides investigative subject matter expertise for fraud-related projects, fraud mitigation initiatives, customer authentication initiatives, payment initiatives, and case management enhancements. Partners with Fraud Operations, Fraud Risk Governance, BSA/AML, Compliance, Operational Risk Management, Information Security, and business lines to identify and address fraud-related risks and control gaps. Provides investigative insight and recommendations regarding fraud trends, recurring loss events, emerging fraud schemes, operational control weaknesses, and opportunities for fraud control enhancements identified through investigative activities. Establishes and monitors unit performance metrics, service level expectations, productivity standards, quality objectives, and workload management practices. Manages investigator workloads and resources to ensure timely completion of investigations, recoveries, quality reviews, and reporting requirements. Develops and delivers fraud awareness training and educational materials for business lines and Bank personnel. Provides support and guidance to business lines concerning fraud incidents, suspicious activity, fraud trends, emerging threats, and recovery opportunities. Assists the Director of Corporate Fraud with management reporting, significant fraud incident reporting, special projects, and strategic initiatives. Performs other related duties at the direction of the Director of Corporate Fraud. Adheres to and complies with applicable, federal and state laws, regulations and guidance, including those related to anti-money laundering (i.e. Bank Secrecy Act, US PATRIOT Act, etc.). Adheres to Bank policies and procedures and completes required training. Identifies and reports suspicious activity. Adheres to and complies with applicable, federal and state laws, regulations and guidance, including those related to anti-money laundering (i.e. Bank Secrecy Act, US PATRIOT Act, etc.).

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

Supervises function, projects or services and/or one or more employees, as applicable. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance coaching; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education Bachelor's Degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience, required Experience Seven (7) years of banking, fraud investigations, fraud operations, financial crimes, or fraud risk management experience, with the majority of experience obtained within a financial institution, required. Minimum three (3) years of leadership, supervisory, or management experience, required. Experience investigating internal and external fraud matters within a banking environment, required. Experience managing complex fraud investigations involving multiple banking products, delivery channels, payment systems, and stakeholders, required. Experience working within a regulated banking environment and understanding the interrelationship between fraud risk, operational risk, customer experience, regulatory expectations, and business operations, required. Preferred experience: Experience conducting fraud investigations within a financial institution. Experience utilizing fraud investigation and case management systems, including Quinte AFM or similar case management platforms, preferred. Experience utilizing fraud management solutions such as Actimize, Verafin, Argo OASIS, SAS, or similar fraud detection, investigation, and case management platforms. Experience supporting fraud technology implementations, system conversions, fraud tool enhancements, or case management initiatives. Experience developing operational dashboards, executive reporting, management reporting, trend analysis, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), and other management information reporting. Experience utilizing Tableau, Power BI, SQL, Python, advanced Excel, or similar business intelligence, reporting, and analytics tools. Experience leveraging automation, workflow optimization, robotic process automation, reporting solutions, and process improvement initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and investigative effectiveness. Working knowledge of Enterprise Risk Management, Operational Risk Management, Risk and Control Self-Assessments (RCSAs), issue management, and fraud control frameworks. Experience supporting control effectiveness evaluations, significant fraud reviews, issue remediation efforts, and root cause analysis activities. Familiarity with fraud controls across branch, digital banking, treasury management, deposit operations, account opening, customer authentication, and payment channels. Licenses and Certifications Professional certifications such as CFE, CFCI, CCCI, CAMS, CFCS, CRCM, or similar designations preferred. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required: Extensive knowledge of banking operations, including retail banking, deposit operations, branch operations, digital banking, treasury management services, and payment systems. Strong knowledge of fraud investigations, fraud recovery efforts, fraud mitigation strategies, and customer protection practices. Strong understanding of first-party, second-party, and third-party fraud typologies. Advanced knowledge of fraud schemes involving account takeover, business email compromise, check fraud, wire fraud, ACH fraud, money mule activity, elder financial exploitation, identity theft, and cyber-enabled fraud. Strong understanding of payment systems, including ACH, wire transfers, check processing, debit cards, Zelle, Real-Time Payments (RTP), and FedNow. Strong understanding of how fraud risks impact retail banking, commercial banking, treasury management services, digital banking, account opening, payment systems, and customer authentication processes. Knowledge of applicable regulations and guidance, including Regulation E, Regulation CC, Regulation V, UCC, NACHA Operating Rules, Visa Operating Rules, BSA requirements, FinCEN SAR requirements, and OCC fraud risk management guidance. Knowledge of hold harmless agreements, breach of warranty claims, indemnification processes, adjustments, and interbank fraud recovery practices. Ability to identify control weaknesses, process gaps, and emerging fraud risks and develop practical recommendations for mitigation. Strong analytical, investigative, organizational, and problem-solving skills. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with all levels of management. Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced, high-volume environment. Demonstrated ability to effectively manage high-risk, time-sensitive fraud events and make complex risk-based decisions while balancing fraud mitigation, customer experience, operational considerations, and regulatory expectations. Ability to lead teams, influence stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement initiatives. Ability to effectively analyze data, identify trends, develop actionable recommendations, and present findings to management. Ability to work effectively under pressure and adapt to evolving fraud threats, operational demands, and changing priorities. Additional Information Candidates residing in locations within BankUnited's footprint may be given preference.

ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

COMMUNICATION/LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Ability to speak, read, and write in the English language; Spanish or other language skills are helpful. Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence, and memos; write simple correspondence; and effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers, clients, and other employees of the organization. BankUnited is an Equal Opportunity Employer. BankUnited does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, creed, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, pregnancy, marital status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable laws. #J-18808-Ljbffr BankUnited