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AML Compliance Quiz: Beginner Level

Fifteen beginner questions on anti-money laundering — the customer checks, the monitoring, the reporting and the vocabulary every compliance team uses.

This AML compliance quiz covers the basics of anti-money laundering for anyone joining a payments, banking or money transfer business — in compliance, operations, product or sales — and for founders who need to speak the language of their partner bank.

Pick an answer for each question. A correct answer shows why it is right; a wrong one is marked incorrect and you can try again. Your score counts first attempts only.

QuizBeginner15 questions

How Well Do You Understand Anti-Money Laundering Basics?

00 / 15 answeredScore 0

  1. Question 1. What does AML stand for?

  2. Question 2. What is the main purpose of an AML program?

  3. Question 3. What does KYC mean?

  4. Question 4. What is customer due diligence, commonly called CDD?

  5. Question 5. What is enhanced due diligence, commonly called EDD?

  6. Question 6. What is sanctions screening?

  7. Question 7. What is transaction monitoring?

  8. Question 8. What is a suspicious activity report, often called a SAR or STR depending on the jurisdiction?

  9. Question 9. What is a PEP in AML?

  10. Question 10. Which activity is a common AML red flag?

  11. Question 11. Who is a beneficial owner?

  12. Question 12. What does source of funds mean?

  13. Question 13. What is the risk-based approach in AML?

  14. Question 14. What is recordkeeping in AML?

  15. Question 15. What does tipping off mean in an AML context?

What the AML compliance quiz covers

  • What an AML program is for, and what KYC, CDD and EDD each mean

  • Sanctions screening versus transaction monitoring

  • Suspicious activity reports (SARs and STRs) and the rule against tipping off

  • Politically exposed persons (PEPs), beneficial owners and source of funds

  • Common red flags, the risk-based approach and recordkeeping

How to read your score

Your score is the number of questions you answered correctly on the first try, out of 15.

  • 14 or 15: You know this material well. Try a harder quiz in the series, or the FX arithmetic one.

  • 9 to 13: A solid working knowledge with a gap or two. Re-read the explanations for the questions you missed.

  • 5 to 8: The basics are there. The explanations are written to fill exactly these gaps, so take the quiz again tomorrow.

  • 0 to 4: Start with the entry-level quiz and the glossary, then come back to this one.

For the primary source behind several of these questions, see FinCEN: the Bank Secrecy Act.

More quizzes and further reading

Ten more quizzes in the series, from entry level to FX arithmetic:

Further reading on this site:

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Page Last Updated: 03-Oct-2026 (9933356)