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Compliance Manager, MLRO

Airwallex· Regulatory & Compliance
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Hybrid (ES - Barcelona)Full-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Manager responsible for launching and maintaining compliance for Airwallex Spanish Branch Office, serving as MLRO and Representante ante SEPBLAC, ensuring Spanish AML/CTF and sanctions compliance, regulatory reporting, and cross-functional governance for the Spanish market.

Responsibilities

  • Regulatory Leadership & SEPBLAC Liaison - Serve as the designated MLRO and Representante ante el SEPBLAC for the Airwallex Spanish Branch, fulfilling local AML/CTF obligations under Ley 10/2010 and RD 304/2014, as applicable to a branch of a DNB-supervised institution operating in Spain.
  • Act as the primary local contact for SEPBLAC and Banco de España in respect of branch-level supervisory matters, regulatory notifications, and any correspondence or inspections relating to the Spanish Branch.
  • Support the EMEA Regulatory and Compliance team in managing the Spanish branch notification and approval process with the relevant Spanish authorities, and maintain ongoing compliance with any conditions or requirements attached to branch authorisation.
  • Local Compliance Oversight - Maintain ongoing FCC oversight of the Spanish Branch Office, ensuring that local activities remain within the approved branch perimeter and aligned to Airwallex NL's regulatory permissions.
  • Provide local compliance advice on Spain-based sales, marketing, and account management activity, ensuring that commercial activity is appropriately controlled and consistent with the Spanish Branch Office model.
  • Ensure that Spanish-specific AML/CTF and sanctions requirements under Ley 10/2010 and RD 304/2014 are appropriately reflected in local policies, procedures, escalation routes, training, governance, and reporting.
  • Commission or facilitate the periodic external expert review of the branch's AML programme required under Article 28 of RD 304/2014, and oversee remediation of any findings.
  • Suspicious Activity Reporting & SEPBLAC Engagement - Oversee local processes for identifying, escalating, assessing, and, where required, reporting suspicious activity to SEPBLAC via its secure reporting platform, in accordance with Articles 18–19 of Ley 10/2010.
  • Work closely with the EMEA FCC team to ensure that Spain-related suspicious activity is identified, investigated, escalated, and documented appropriately, in compliance with the tipping-off prohibition under Article 24 of Ley 10/2010.
  • Provide MLRO review and decision-making input on Spain-related suspicious activity, customer exits, account restrictions, law enforcement requests, and other financial crime risk outcomes where local Spanish input is required.
  • Commercial Enablement & Risk Advisory - Serve as the embedded compliance partner for the Spanish commercial and sales team, providing day-to-day regulatory guidance on customer queries, product use cases, and market-specific risk scenarios relevant to the Spanish and Southern European market.
  • Advise on Spanish market-specific compliance considerations for complex client engagements, ensuring appropriate escalation to the EMEA FCC and KYC Ops teams where required.
  • Support the assessment and launch of new products or commercial initiatives targeting the Spanish market, ensuring controls are proportionate and consistent with SEPBLAC expectations and Airwallex NL's risk appetite.
  • Governance & Reporting - Provide regular compliance MI and reporting to Airwallex NL senior management and relevant Group Risk Committees, covering branch-level risk indicators, regulatory developments, and the effectiveness of local controls.
  • Maintain and update the branch's formal risk assessment under RD 304/2014, ensuring it reflects the current risk profile of the Spanish Branch and is reviewed at least annually.
  • Fulfil any local reporting obligations to SEPBLAC or Banco de España arising from the branch's regulatory status, in coordination with Airwallex NL's Compliance and Legal teams.
  • Audit & Remediation - Support the response to SEPBLAC and Banco de España branch-level supervisory enquiries, internal audits, and independent AML reviews, coordinating with the Internal Audit function where necessary.
  • Drive timely identification and remediation of any local compliance deficiencies, maintaining robust evidence of actions taken.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Law, Finance, Business, or a related field (preferred).
  • 5+ years of experience in financial crime compliance with experience as an MLRO or Representante ante el SEPBLAC within a regulated financial institution, payment institution, or fintech operating in Spain or the broader EU/EEA market.
  • Sound knowledge of Spanish AML/CTF obligations under Ley 10/2010 and RD 304/2014, the role of SEPBLAC as Spain's FIU and supervisory authority, the OCI framework, and Banco de España's oversight of payment institutions; familiarity with EU AML Directives (AMLD4/AMLD5/AMLD6) and EU AML Regulation 2024/1624 in Spain.
  • Prior experience interacting with SEPBLAC and/or Banco de España, whether in a direct or supporting capacity (e.g., branch notifications, STR filings, regulatory correspondence, supervisory inspections).
  • Demonstrated ability to manage suspicious activity escalations, STR filings via SEPBLAC's secure reporting platform, and to make sound, timely compliance decisions in a fast-paced commercial environment.
  • Stakeholder Management - Ability to credibly engage internal stakeholders across compliance, legal, and commercial functions, and to represent Airwallex professionally before Spanish regulatory authorities.
  • Language - Business-level proficiency in both Spanish and English; regulatory correspondence and documentation in Spanish.

Skills

Required:MLRO responsibilities

Benefits

  • Not specified in the description
Last updated Oct 7, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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