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Exam Information
Official specifications published by ACAMS
Exam Format
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Skills this practice test covers
- Match money laundering, terrorist financing and fraud risks to products, customers, channels and jurisdictions.
- Apply the FATF recommendations and the main US and EU anti-financial crime rules to a firm's obligations.
- Write a risk appetite statement and set controls that match the risk-based approach.
- Investigate unusual activity, decide when to escalate, and document a suspicious activity report.
- Choose screening and transaction monitoring controls, including threshold setting and scenario tuning.
- Assess when AI and machine learning tools can improve KYC refresh, screening and monitoring.
Explore related topics
CAMS exam content
4 domains · 59 topics · 307 questions
Understanding the Risks and Methods of Financial Crime30%88 questions
This domain defines each type of financial crime and shows where it appears. Candidates must spot the risks in banking, insurance, cryptoassets, gaming, real estate, gatekeepers and other high-risk sectors.
Skills tested
- Define AML, CFT, sanctions, fraud, anti-bribery and corruption, and tax evasion.
- Explain how predicate crimes produce the funds that are laundered.
- Identify the risks of serving politically exposed persons and high-risk customers.
- Compare the risks of money services businesses, payment service providers and virtual asset service providers.
Questions by topic
- FC risks related to other high-risk business sectors and structures12
- How ML, terrorist financing (TF), sanctions, bribery and corruption, tax evasion, and fraud may manifest within different sectors through products and services, customers, jurisdictions, and channels7
- FC risks related to products within other financial sectors3
- Definitions of anti-money laundering (AML), countering the financing of terrorism (CFT), sanctions, fraud, anti-bribery and corruption (ABC), and tax evasion2
- FC risks related to money services businesses (MSBs), payment service providers (PSPs), and ecommerce platforms7
- FC risks related to the banking of high-risk sectors5
- FC risks related to gaming and gambling7
- FC risks related to insurance products8
- The predicate crimes underlying financial crime7
- FC risks related to accountants1
- Financial crime (FC) risks related to products within different business segments in the banking sector10
- Financial systems, the economic, reputational, and social consequences of money laundering (ML), and the risks/impacts of violations of anti-financial crime (AFC) regulations4
- FC risks related to real estate7
- FC risks related to trusts and company service providers1
- FC risks related to gatekeepers1
- FC risks related to the banking of politically exposed persons (PEPs) and high-risk customers1
- FC risks related to virtual asset service providers (VASPs), cryptoassets, and related products5
Global AFC Frameworks, Governance, and Regulations20%79 questions
This domain covers the bodies that set and enforce the rules. Candidates explain the work of the FATF, the United Nations, regulators, law enforcement and financial intelligence units, and how they cooperate across borders.
Skills tested
- Apply the principles of the FATF recommendations to a firm's controls.
- Use national and sectoral risk assessments as inputs to an organization's risk assessment.
- Name the main anti-financial crime regulations and regulators in the US and the EU.
- Weigh the strengths and limits of public-private partnerships for sharing intelligence.
Questions by topic
- The Foreign Action Task Force’s (FATF) role, function, regional bodies, and how to apply the principles relating to FATF recommendations21
- The AFC regulations and main regulatory bodies in the US and EU, including money laundering and sanctions29
- Other laws and regulations that impact AML/ counter-terrorist financing (CTF) applications, including but not limited to data privacy, consumer protection, environmental, social5
- Guidance and/or special reports from nongovernment bodies11
- How regulatory authorities cooperate when conducting regulatory exams, how law enforcement agencies and FIU’s cooperate when conducting money laundering investigations7
- Objectives of public sector groups, private sector groups, and non-governmental organizations3
- The role of regulators, law enforcement, and financial intelligence units (FIUs) in protecting financial integrity and its citizens2
- The United Nations’(UNs) role and sanctions regimes1
Building an Anti-Financial Crime Compliance Program30%119 questions
This domain is the daily work of a compliance function. Candidates design the program's pillars, assign roles to the three lines of defense, run risk assessments and due diligence, and handle investigations through to the report.
Skills tested
- Separate inherent risk from residual risk in an enterprise risk assessment.
- Tell policies, standards and procedures apart, and say what each must contain.
- Design controls for conflict zones, dual-use goods, PEPs and complex ownership structures.
- Respond to subpoenas and law enforcement requests without tipping off the customer.
- Report KPIs and KRIs to boards and management committees.
Questions by topic
- How to document your investigation to determine when to escalate and report suspicion; how to write and document your suspicious activity report (SAR)6
- Reviewing regulatory guidance and obligations, incorporating horizon scanning, and industry best practices as part of drafting policies and procedures2
- Roles and responsibilities of the three lines of defense, and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) officer/ Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO)9
- How to investigate unusual transactions and activities and gather information, including how to identify suspicious activities through transactions, staff reports, and external sources13
- When to escalate using the governance structure, including the decision-making process and documentation when offboarding the customer12
- Enterprise risk assessment: how inherent risk is identified, and the controls used to assess residual risk to AML, CFT, fraud, sanctions, ABC, and tax evasion6
- The importance of governing committees, their structure, terms of references, and roles in organizational decision making2
- Other due diligence requirements, including but not limited to employee due diligence and insider threats, vendors, and third parties4
- Responding to court orders, subpoenas, and law enforcement agency requests for information, and responding to partners’ organizations (in the context of the FinCEN sections 314a, 314b17
- The designing, implementing, and monitoring of controls, including but not limited to know your customer (KYC), customer due diligence (CDD), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), employee due diligence8
- The purpose of controls at the point of onboarding and throughout the customer life cycle, including exit controls (e.g.11
- How to raise awareness and train staff regarding the risks related to FC7
- The role of risk assessment, the types of risk assessment and how to identify, assess, and mitigate AML, CFT, sanctions, fraud, ABC, tax evasion risks7
- Designing controls for potential high-risk scenarios in relation to customers, products, services, channels, and jurisdictions, including but not limited to transactions involving conflict zones4
- What makes an effective compliance program and what are the core pillars of the AFC program5
- Communicating with customers through established channels, use of requests for information (RFIs), consequences of tipping off, and raising awareness5
- The importance of a risk based approach (RBA) and building controls commensurate with risks1
Tools and Technologies to Fight Financial Crime20%21 questions
This domain looks at the systems behind the controls. Candidates choose onboarding, screening, monitoring and investigation tools, and judge data quality and the right level of customer friction.
Skills tested
- Compare digital onboarding checks such as E-KYC, liveness checks, biometrics and geolocation.
- Configure name screening against UN, OFAC and EU lists, using fuzzy logic with care.
- Tune a rules-based transaction monitoring scenario with customer segmentation and threshold setting.
- Decide when to move from rules-based monitoring to AI or machine learning tools.
Official topics
- Tools available to implement controls across the customer lifecycle
- Data quality, integrity, access, definitions, and taxonomy
- Building a good customer experience with the right level of friction
- Onboarding controls: the latest solutions for KYC, including but not limited to digital onboarding, electronic-know your customer (E-KYC), digital identity, facial recognition, liveness checks, biometrics, and geolocation
- Onboarding controls: automated/manual external data sources used for KYC and screening, including but not limited to credit reference agencies, beneficial ownership registers, adverse media, criminal records, and government identity checks
- Onboarding controls: name screening/customer screening and use of sanctions lists (including UN, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), EU, and other internal and external watch lists such as fraud and terrorist financing lists)
- Ongoing controls: periodic refresh and perpetual KYC, including prioritization, applying a risk-based approach, and consideration of the use of artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning-based tools
- Ongoing controls: adverse media screening tools and consideration of the use of AI/machine learning-based tools
- Ongoing controls: customer/batch screening for sanctions, use of fuzzy logic within the tools, considerations of AI/machine learning-based tools, and list management
- Ongoing controls: transaction/payment screening, including specific payment message types, including but not limited to SWIFT, blockchain transactions, and consideration of the use of AI/machine learning-based tools
- Ongoing controls: traditional transaction monitoring, the use of a rules-based approach to transaction monitoring, customer segmentation, scenario coverage, threshold setting, statistical testing (ATL/ BTL), model risk management, and tuning scenarios for effectiveness
- Ongoing controls: enhancing efficiencies and effectiveness, transitioning from rules-based to primary and/or secondary AI/machine learning-based tools
- Ongoing controls: investigations, the use of open source tools, automation to support investigators, and consideration of the use of AI/ machine learning-based tools
- Ongoing controls: network analysis tools to determine any links to criminality, and consideration of the use of AI/machine learning- based tools
- Technologies helping to navigate privacy and data protection rules
- What to consider when choosing the best AFC tool for an organization and considerations for integration
- Operational effectiveness, efficient controls, and the use of a risk-based approach to prioritize resources and investment
Requirements
- Required: an active ACAMS membership.
- Required: 40 eligibility credits, earned through education, work experience and financial crime training.
- Recommended: 18 to 24 months of experience in anti-financial crime work.
- Recommended: complete the four core ACAMS courses before the exam.
About the CAMS exam
The CAMS exam from ACAMS checks whether a compliance professional can find financial crime risk and build a program that controls it. It covers money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions, fraud, bribery and corruption, and tax evasion, not money laundering alone. Candidates study the global frameworks, the three lines of defense, due diligence, investigations, and the tools that screen and monitor customers. Passing earns the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist certification.
Questions in the PlanetCert practice test are mostly short scenarios, such as a customer with a complex ownership structure or a payment that names a sanctioned party. Each explanation names the control or rule that settles the case, and why the other options fall short. Study mode suits the two largest domains, on financial crime risks and on the compliance program, where many answers turn on one detail. Brainy AI Assistant can compare customer due diligence with Enhanced Due Diligence, or explain how above-the-line and below-the-line testing set a monitoring threshold.
How to earn the certification
- Earns
- Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)Specialist
CAMS stays valid for three years and renews with recertification credits in each cycle.
How to prepare for CAMS
- 1
Read the four-domain blueprint
The CAMS Candidate Handbook lists every objective in four domains. Mark each objective that cannot yet be explained with a real case, such as a PEP opening an account.
- 2
Map risks to sectors
For each sector in the first domain, from insurance to real estate and gaming, write the products, customers and channels that carry the risk. Then name one red flag for each.
- 3
Learn who sets the rules
Sort the FATF, the United Nations, regulators, law enforcement and financial intelligence units by what each one does. Add the main US and EU regulations to the same sheet.
- 4
Walk one case end to end
Take one unusual transaction through the compliance program domain: alert, investigation, escalation, the decision to file a SAR, and the offboarding choice. This domain and the first one carry the most weight, so give both the most time.
- 5
Test monitoring and screening choices
Finish with the CAMS practice test in timed mode. Review every tools question that went wrong, and ask Brainy AI Assistant why a threshold or screening setting fits the stated risk.
Start a timed CAMSrun
ACAMS offers four core certificate courses, one for each exam domain, and recommends completing them before the exam. The two elective courses are not part of the exam blueprint.
Who CAMS is for
- AML, sanctions and fraud compliance staff at banks, insurers, payment firms and cryptoasset businesses.
- Financial crime investigators and analysts who handle alerts and write suspicious activity reports.
- BSA officers and MLROs who design and run an anti-financial crime program.
- Regulators, financial intelligence unit staff and auditors who review compliance programs.
Typical job titles: AML compliance officer · Financial crime investigator · KYC analyst · Sanctions analyst · Transaction monitoring analyst · BSA officer
CAMS glossary
19 terms from the exam objectives and the vendor's official material, each defined in a sentence.
- De-risking
- Ending or refusing whole groups of customers to avoid risk, which can harm financial inclusion.
- Enhanced Due Diligence
- Extra checks on a higher-risk customer, such as the source of funds, beyond standard customer due diligence.
- Financial intelligence units
- National agencies that receive suspicious activity reports, analyse them and pass findings to law enforcement.
- Fuzzy logic
- Screening logic that finds names that are close but not identical, such as spelling variants.
- Gatekeepers
- Professionals such as lawyers and accountants whose services can give criminals access to the financial system.
- Horizon scanning
- Watching for new rules, guidance and threats so policies can change before they apply.
- Liveness checks
- Tests during digital onboarding that confirm a real person is present, not a photo or a recording.
- Money Laundering Reporting Officer
- The person who leads a firm's AML compliance and decides whether to report suspicion to the authorities.
- Perpetual KYC
- Updating customer information continuously when data changes, instead of only at fixed review dates.
- Politically exposed persons
- People who hold or held a prominent public role, whose position raises their risk of bribery and corruption.
- Predicate crimes
- The underlying crimes, such as drug trafficking or fraud, that produce the money which is then laundered.
- Public-private partnerships
- Formal groups in which authorities and private firms share data and intelligence about financial crime.
- Residual risk
- The risk that remains after controls are applied to the inherent risk.
- Risk appetite statement
- A written statement of how much financial crime risk an organization accepts, used to set its controls.
- Risk based approach
- Putting more controls and resources where the risk is higher and fewer where it is lower.
- Three lines of defense
- A model that splits risk work between the business, an independent compliance and risk function, and internal audit.
- Threshold setting
- Choosing the values, such as an amount or a count, at which a monitoring rule creates an alert.
- Tipping off
- Telling a customer, directly or indirectly, that they are under suspicion or have been reported, which the law forbids.
- Virtual asset service providers
- Businesses that exchange, transfer or hold cryptoassets for customers.