CISI Combating Financial Crime Cheat Sheet

May 1, 2026

Review a compact CISI Combating Financial Crime cheat sheet for AML, terrorist financing, sanctions, bribery, corruption, fraud, tax evasion, market abuse, escalation, and control traps before Finance Prep practice.

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Use this CISI Combating Financial Crime cheat sheet as a control checklist before mixed practice. The exam usually rewards the answer that separates the crime type, identifies the trigger, and chooses the right escalation or control step.

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Exam snapshot

Item	CISI Financial Crime cue
Provider	CISI
Exam	Combating Financial Crime
Format	50 multiple-choice questions in 60 minutes
Main practice behavior	identify the financial-crime risk, control trigger, reporting path, and governance response
Finance Prep status	live practice available

Topic checklist

Area	What to know	Common trap
Financial-crime background	predicate offences, regulated-sector risk, prevention role	treating the topic as general criminal law instead of firm controls
Money laundering	placement, layering, integration, suspicion, reporting, tipping off	waiting for proof instead of acting on suspicion
Terrorist financing	funding sources, small-value patterns, designated persons, escalation	assuming only large or complex transactions matter
Bribery and corruption	inducements, facilitation payments, third-party risk, gifts and hospitality	focusing only on cash bribes
Fraud and market abuse	deception, false documents, insider dealing, manipulation, red flags	mixing ordinary error with deliberate misconduct
Tax evasion	facilitation risk, client behavior, documentation gaps, escalation	treating tax advice and tax evasion risk as the same issue
Sanctions	screening, matches, freezes, reporting, ownership and control	treating a possible match as a normal onboarding delay
Risk management	customer, product, geography, transaction, governance, monitoring	using one control for every risk type
Financial-services role	MLRO, senior management, staff training, records, escalation	assigning all responsibility to one compliance function

Must-know distinctions

Suspicion versus proof: suspicious activity can require escalation before criminal proof exists.
AML versus sanctions: AML focuses on proceeds and laundering behavior; sanctions focus on prohibited persons, entities, ownership, control, and restrictions.
Bribery versus fraud: bribery is an improper advantage; fraud is deception for gain or loss avoidance.
Terrorist financing versus money laundering: funds may come from lawful or unlawful sources, and the destination or purpose matters.
Internal report versus external report: staff escalate internally; the nominated officer or MLRO decides the external reporting step.
Tipping off versus normal client communication: do not alert a person that a report or investigation may be underway.

Common traps

Choosing a generic “monitor the account” answer when the facts require escalation or reporting.
Treating sanctions screening as a low-risk administrative match process.
Missing third-party, introducer, or intermediary risk in bribery and corruption stems.
Assuming a long-standing client cannot create a new financial-crime risk.
Confusing poor records with proof that no suspicious activity exists.
Selecting the answer that keeps the client relationship moving when the control step should pause or escalate activity.

Practice strategy

After each set, label every miss by crime type and control step. A useful review note should say something like: “sanctions match - freeze or escalate before proceeding” or “AML suspicion - internal report, avoid tipping off.” If your notes all say “compliance issue,” drill the individual topic pages before another mixed run.

Revised on Monday, May 25, 2026

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