Naana Asare

Naana Asare is a Senior Manager in the Legal, Risk and Compliance practice at Protiviti, a global business consulting firm. She has 11 years of experience in financial services, specializing in financial crimes compliance, regulatory compliance, and operational risk. Her experience spans banks, money services businesses, and fintech companies. She holds the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) certification.

At Protiviti, Naana works with financial institutions to strengthen Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance programs, evaluate the effectiveness of controls, and address regulatory and audit findings. Her expertise includes customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence (CDD/EDD), transaction monitoring and investigations, sanctions compliance, BSA/AML audits, regulatory issue validation, and compliance program management. She applies this expertise to assess compliance controls and the effectiveness of remediation. She has also led large teams conducting AML alert reviews and case investigations for multinational banks, strengthening investigative quality through training and quality assurance.

Before joining Protiviti, Naana served as BSA Compliance Officer at Fast Funds Inc., a money services business specializing in cross-border remittances. She oversaw its AML program, coordinated regulatory examinations, developed policies and controls, and led compliance training.

Naana is a graduate of Columbia University’s Enterprise Risk Management program and a recipient of the Spring 2021 Enterprise Risk Management Merit Scholarship Award. She has served in various capacities within the program: as an ERM Program Leadership Intern, helping create the program’s inaugural newsletter; as part-time associate faculty supporting Operational Risk Management instruction; and in an academic support role, where she developed the Financial Crimes Compliance course.

She now serves as a Part-Time Lecturer in the program, teaching Financial Crimes Compliance. Drawing on her experience in compliance program oversight, consulting, investigations, audit support, and regulatory remediation, Naana connects enterprise risk management principles with the practical challenges of managing financial crime risk. Through case studies and applied exercises, her course equips students to assess financial crime risks, evaluate compliance controls, and develop investigative judgment and risk-based recommendations.