Andrew Mackay

Andrew Mackay is an independent consultant and trainer on anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism and counter proliferation financing. He is a Doctoral Candidate at the United Nations’ University for Peace (UPEACE) researching the impact of Illicit Finance on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), a Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator (CCI) and a founding director and co-Chair of the Malta ACAMS Chapter. He has recently worked in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Channel Islands and the Balkans, mainly focused on technical assistance for FATF mutual evaluations.

A former Royal Navy intelligence officer, he undertook operational deployments in Bosnia investigating war criminals’ financial support networks, in Iraq investigating WMD sanctions evasion, regime crimes and insurgent and terrorist networks. He also had roles in Afghanistan with the NATO Training Mission and Bahrain for maritime security operations in the Gulf, countering Somali-based piracy, and geopolitical analysis during the Arab Spring. He also served in the NATO Southern Region HQ in Naples, the Ministry of Defence in London and British Embassy in Washington DC.

Following military service, Andrew was Head of Financial Crime Threat Mitigation for HSBC Malta as the country head for financial crime investigations, analytics and intelligence. This involved domestic and transnational financial crime issues ranging from bribery and corruption, fraud, money laundering and sanctions evasion through to terrorist financing. During this time, he was a member of the European Financial Intelligence Public-Private Partnership (EFIPPP).

Andrew has an MA with Distinction in Intelligence and International Security from Kings College London. His dissertation focused on the use of financial intelligence for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and he continues to deliver training on structured analytical techniques and critical thinking for financial intelligence (FININT) purposes.