The Fintech Training Center
Everything fintech teams need to operate smarter, scale responsibly, and stay ready for regulators and partners.
The HRE Fintech Training Center is a centralized, continuously updated learning platform built by fintech practitioners. It brings together training, operating tools, and expert guidance to help fintechs run better across products, operations, governance, risk, compliance, and growth.
We’re still building through some bumps…If you see something, please say something info@highriskeducation.com
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We’re still building through some bumps…If you see something, please say something info@highriskeducation.com 〰️
On-Demand Training Library
Three tracks designed for how fintechs operate.
Our on-demand training is organized into three tracks so each role, from board members to operators to frontline employees, gets the level of guidance they need:
1. Board-Level Training
For Board Members, Directors & Senior Executives
Designed for board members and senior executives overseeing fintech risk and strategy. These sessions focus on governance, fiduciary duties, partner-bank oversight, regulatory expectations, technology risk, and how boards are evaluated when things go wrong.
Kim Manchester: Proliferation Financing
Explore one of the most critical, and least understood risks facing financial institutions today: proliferation financing.
Tracie Kosakowski: Operational Resilience in Fintech Environments
The critical balance between innovation speed and compliance controls that every fintech leader must navigate.
Brian Davis: Risk Management Strategies
Practical approaches to identifying and mitigating financial crime risks
Erin Loughlin: Technology in Compliance
How AI and automation are transforming financial crime prevention
2. Management and Practitioner Training
Operate & Scale Fintechs (Founders, Leaders, Practitioners)
Built for founders, operators, product leaders, compliance, risk, and operations teams. These courses cover how to design fintech programs, manage partner banks and vendors, scale without breaking controls, structure compliance teams, manage operational risk, and turn strategy into execution.
Kim Manchester: Proliferation Financing
Explore one of the most critical, and least understood risks facing financial institutions today: proliferation financing.
Tracie Kosakowski: Operational Resilience in Fintech Environments
The critical balance between innovation speed and compliance controls that every fintech leader must navigate.
Brian Davis: Risk Management Strategies
Practical approaches to identifying and mitigating financial crime risks
Erin Loughlin: Technology in Compliance
How AI and automation are transforming financial crime prevention
3. Annual Training for Fintech Employees
Foundational training for every fintech team member
These are annual awareness sessions for all staff covering core expectations around AML, sanctions, fraud awareness, data privacy and security, consumer protection, and bank partnership basics, so every employee understands their role in managing risk and meeting the expectations fintechs face by regulators and partner banks, who increasingly require this training as part of their oversight.
Across all tracks, training is practitioner-led and focused on how fintechs build, operate, and scale.
Kim Manchester: Proliferation Financing
Explore one of the most critical, and least understood risks facing financial institutions today: proliferation financing.
Tracie Kosakowski: Operational Resilience in Fintech Environments
The critical balance between innovation speed and compliance controls that every fintech leader must navigate.
Brian Davis: Risk Management Strategies
Practical approaches to identifying and mitigating financial crime risks
Erin Loughlin: Technology in Compliance
How AI and automation are transforming financial crime prevention
Fintech Operating Documents
Practical tools your teams can actually use.
Access a growing library of templates, checklists, frameworks, and operating documents designed for real fintech environments. These resources help teams standardize execution, reduce partner friction, and respond confidently to audits, exams, and due diligence.
Included areas:
Governance & Leadership: accountability frameworks, board materials, decision records
Risk & Controls: risk assessments, control mapping, monitoring tools
Product & Operations: launch governance, change management workflows
AI, Cyber & Innovation: governance templates for emerging technologies
Regulatory Readiness: documentation that stands up to partner and regulatory review
Regulatory Expectations for AI Use in Financial Services
Financial institutions using AI must comply with evolving regulatory guidance to ensure safe, fair, and transparent model use. This guide highlights common mistakes in aligning AI practices with regulatory expectations, explains why they are problematic, and provides practical guidance to help risk, compliance, and AI teams translate regulations into actionable controls.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Crypto Risk Rating Templates
A clear, repeatable risk rating framework helps compliance and AML teams assess overall customer risk based on activity, geography, and exposure, and ensures ratings are defensible, comparable, and actionable. This guide highlights common weaknesses in crypto customer risk rating, explains why they create inconsistency or regulatory risk, and provides practical guidance for building a reliable, examiner-ready risk rating process.
DownloadAI Bias & Fairness Testing Guide
AI systems can unintentionally produce biased or discriminatory outcomes, impacting fairness, trust, and regulatory compliance. This guide highlights common mistakes in AI bias and fairness testing, explains why they are problematic, and provides practical guidance to help AI teams, data scientists, and product managers detect, document, and remediate bias effectively.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - When Crypto Activity Requires a SAR vs Monitoring Only
Clear, practical guidance for determining when crypto-related activity warrants filing a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) versus when enhanced monitoring is sufficient. Consistent SAR decisioning is critical to regulatory compliance, defensibility, and effective use of investigative resources.
DownloadAI Governance and Oversight Model
Clear AI governance and oversight model that establishes ownership, accountability, and decision-making authority across the organization. As artificial intelligence systems introduce operational, regulatory, and ethical risks, a structured governance framework is essential to ensure responsible development, deployment, and ongoing management.
DownloadThird-party Issue Management & Remediation Tracker
Standardized framework for tracking third-party and vendor issues from identification through remediation and closure. A structured issue management process ensures accountability, timely remediation, and transparent reporting to management and regulators.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Wallet Attribution Notes Template
Standardized template for documenting wallet attribution during crypto investigations. Clear attribution notes help investigators explain how wallets were linked, what assumptions were made, and which sources were relied upon—improving consistency, defensibility, and regulatory credibility.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Crypto Transaction Investigation Case Study & SAR Walkthrough
This case study provides a practical, end-to-end walkthrough of a crypto transaction investigation that results in a SAR filing. It is designed to demonstrate how investigators assess typologies, evaluate intent, apply decision points, and draft a clear, defensible SAR narrative.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Crypto Investigation Intake Worksheet
Standardized, operational intake framework for crypto investigations. A consistent intake worksheet helps investigations teams capture critical blockchain details upfront, reduce rework, and ensure cases are documented in a clear, regulator-ready manner.
DownloadAI Risk Assessment Framework For Financial Institutions
This framework is designed to help institutions identify, assess, and manage inherent and residual risks associated with AI systems. It provides a structured approach to evaluating AI-related risks and supports responsible, compliant, and transparent AI deployment.
DownloadThird-party & Vendor Risk Tiering Matrix
Practical, risk-based framework for tiering third-party and vendor relationships in a fintech environment. Effective vendor risk tiering allows institutions to apply appropriate oversight based on criticality, data access, and regulatory exposure—supporting strong partnership governance and regulatory compliance.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Crypto KYT vs Traditional Transaction Monitoring Comparison
A practical comparison between Crypto Know Your Transaction (KYT) monitoring and traditional fiat transaction monitoring. Its purpose is to help compliance and AML teams align monitoring approaches, understand where each control is strong or limited, and design integrated frameworks that cover both crypto and fiat risk.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Wallet Risk Scoring Methodology (Sample) (Must-have)
A practical, operational sample framework for wallet risk scoring that compliance, AML, and investigations teams can use in day-to-day workflows. Wallet risk scoring helps standardize how blockchain wallets are assessed, prioritized, and escalated based on observed activity and exposure.
DownloadOngoing Vendor Monitoring & Issue Escalation Guide
Practical, risk-based framework for ongoing monitoring of third-party vendors and for escalating issues beyond initial onboarding. Effective ongoing monitoring ensures vendor risk remains within tolerance, emerging issues are identified early, and contractual rights are enforced when necessary.
DownloadFinCEN SAR Fields & Crypto-specific Completion Guide
Practical, crypto-specific guidance for completing FinCEN Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) fields accurately and consistently. Proper field completion improves SAR quality, enhances law enforcement usability, and reduces regulatory criticism related to incomplete or unclear filings.
DownloadAI Model Monitoring and Drift Detection Checklist
AI models can degrade over time due to changing data, environments, or user behavior, potentially impacting performance, fairness, and reliability. This guide highlights common mistakes in model monitoring and drift detection, explains why they are problematic, and provides practical guidance to help AI teams, data scientists, and product managers maintain model integrity through ongoing monitoring.
DownloadHow to Justify High-Risk Determinations
Practical guidance for defensibly justifying "High Risk" customer determinations in a crypto AML context. Regulators expect institutions to clearly explain why a customer is rated high risk, what evidence supports that conclusion, and how the determination drives enhanced controls.
DownloadResidual Risk & Control Effectiveness Scoring Checklist
This document provides a practical, operational guide for moving from inherent risk to residual risk through consistent control effectiveness scoring. It is designed to help compliance, AML, and risk teams clearly articulate how controls reduce risk, apply defensible weighting, and document rationale in a way that meets regulatory expectations.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Ongoing Monitoring for Crypto Customers - Control Checklist
This document provides a practical, operational checklist for ongoing monitoring of crypto customers after onboarding. Effective post-onboarding monitoring is critical to identifying evolving risk, detecting suspicious activity, and ensuring AML programs remain risk-based and defensible.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening Wallet Screening vs Customer Screening Guide
This document provides a practical, operational guide to help compliance, AML, and investigations teams clearly distinguish between wallet screening and customer screening. While both controls are critical, confusion around when each is required—and how they overlap—can lead to control gaps or duplicative effort.
DownloadKYC, Typologies, Screening - Crypto Transaction Investigation Case Study & SAR Walkthrough
This case study provides a practical, end-to-end walkthrough of a crypto transaction investigation that results in a SAR filing. It is designed to demonstrate how investigators assess typologies, evaluate intent, apply decision points, and draft a clear, defensible SAR narrative.
DownloadIncident Response and Regulatoruy Notification Playbook
This playbook establishes a structured approach for responding to operational incidents, data breaches, fraud events, compliance failures, and customer harm in fintech environments. Regulators and partner banks expect fintechs to demonstrate timely escalation, clear ownership, and disciplined documentation during incidents.
DownloadWhat Changes When You Add a Sponsor Bank?
Adding a sponsor bank fundamentally changes how a fintech operates. Regulatory expectations increase, governance becomes more formal, and partner-bank oversight becomes part of day-to-day operations. This checklist helps fintech teams quickly identify what must change across governance, compliance, product, and operations when entering a sponsor-bank relationship.
DownloadScaling Controls Roadmap
This roadmap helps fintech leadership plan how controls, governance, and risk management should evolve as the business scales. Regulators and partner banks expect fintech controls to mature alongside growth in products, customers, transaction volumes, and geographic footprint.
DownloadRegulatory Exam Readiness Playbook
This playbook helps fintech teams prepare for regulatory exams, partner-bank audits, and supervisory reviews in a structured, low-stress way. Regulators and sponsor banks expect fintechs to demonstrate not just controls, but governance, documentation, and accountability.
DownloadProduct Risk Assessment (PRA) Template
This Product Risk Assessment (PRA) template helps fintech teams identify, assess, and document risks associated with new products, features, or material changes. Regulators and partner banks expect fintechs to evaluate consumer impact, compliance obligations, operational risk, and control readiness before launch.
DownloadProduct Launch Governance & Change Management Workflow
This workflow helps fintech teams prevent rushed launches that introduce regulatory risk, consumer harm, or operational failures.
DownloadPartner-Bank Governance & Oversight Playbook
This playbook provides fintech leadership with a structured approach to governing partner-bank relationships in sponsor bank and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) models. Regulators increasingly apply "look-through" supervision to fintech3bank arrangements, meaning fintechs are evaluated based on how their activities impact the bank's safety, soundness, and compliance posture.
DownloadFintech Risk & Compliance Maturity Model
This maturity model helps fintechs assess where their risk and compliance programs stand today and what "good" looks like at each stage of growth. Regulators and partner banks expect controls, governance, and resourcing to mature as fintechs scale.
DownloadCompliance Program Charter & Governance Framework
This Compliance Program Charter defines the purpose, scope, governance, and accountability of the fintech's compliance function. Regulators and partner banks expect fintechs to demonstrate clear ownership of compliance responsibilities, independence of the compliance function, and effective governance structures.
DownloadBaaS Operating Model & Responsibilities Matrix
This document establishes a clear operating model for fintechs using Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) or sponsor bank relationships. It is designed to eliminate ambiguity around responsibility, ownership, and accountability between fintechs and partner banks.
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Why this matters
Fintech risk shows up in product design, operations, people, and decisions, not just compliance manuals.
Most fintech problems don’t start with bad intent. They start with unclear ownership, fast growth without structure, disconnected teams, and decisions that weren’t documented well enough to defend later. The Fintech Training Center exists to replace fragmented guidance with consistent execution and guesswork with confident decision-making.
Ask an Expert
When you don’t need a course and you need a real answer.
Members can submit real-world fintech questions and get practical guidance from experienced practitioners across products, operations, compliance, fraud, AI governance, payments, and fintech risk.
Examples:
“Can we launch this product this way?”
“How do we document this decision properly?”
“What will our bank partner or regulator focus on here?”
We route questions to the right expert and respond with practical, real-world guidance.
This service provides educational and operational guidance only and does not constitute legal advice.
Meet Our Experts
Practitioners with real-world experience across every critical fintech discipline.
The Fintech Training Center is built and taught by professionals who have operated inside the very systems they teach. No theory, no filler - just practical guidance from people who have done the work.
Joe Ciccolo
Pioneering compliance frameworks for digital asset businesses, exchanges, and blockchain platforms at the intersection of innovation and regulation.
Full BioChristina Rea-Baxter
Guiding financial institutions through evolving regulatory landscapes with practical, risk-based compliance strategies and examiner-ready frameworks.
Full BioValerie Pitka
Optimizing compliance operations through process design, technology adoption, and performance metrics that drive efficiency without sacrificing program integrity.
Full BioRio Miner
Designing engaging, effective compliance training that translates complex regulatory requirements into practical, actionable knowledge for front-line teams.
Full BioThomas Byrne
Bridging HR policy and compliance obligations — from background screening to whistleblower protections and workforce risk management in fintech environments.
Full BioGretchen Keller
Bridging HR policy and compliance obligations — from background screening to whistleblower protections and workforce risk management in fintech environments.
Full BioMolly McQueen
Navigating card network compliance, payment processing ecosystems, and the evolving regulatory demands of real-time and digital payment channels.
Full BioJoseph Cuanan
Applying AI and machine learning to financial crime detection, model governance, and the regulatory expectations emerging around algorithmic decision-making.
Full BioTyler Smith
Guiding fintechs and money services businesses through state and federal licensing requirements, charter applications, and ongoing regulatory obligations.
Full BioAsk the Fintech Life Coach
Sometimes you don’t need a course, you need a real answer.
The Fintech Life Coach connects you with experienced practitioners across:
Compliance and Regulatory Risk
Fraud and Financial Crime
AI and data governance
Payments and fintech questions
Ask questions like:
“Do we actually need this control?”
“How should we document this issue?”
“What will regulators care about here?”
We route your question to the right expert and provide practical, real-world guidance, quickly and clearly.
This service is included in your membership. Also, it provides educational and operational guidance only and does not constitute legal advice.
Sign Up For Access To Your Own Fintech Life Coach
The first hour’s on us! Sign up today for a free hour with your Fintech Life Coach.