FREE CAMS Study Guide 2026: All 4 Content Areas, Built to the Exam

This free CAMS study guide teaches to the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist exam from ACAMS — all four content areas of the current sixth-edition exam, organized the way the exam is built.^[1] It is broad rather than deep in any single place, so this guide teaches the high-yield concepts across ML risks and methods, compliance standards, compliance programs, and investigations — not just a summary.

And it’s interactive, not a wall of text: every content area has a built-in checkpoint quiz, hover-able glossary terms, and concept questions, so you learn by doing.

Read it area by area, test yourself at each checkpoint, then round out your free CAMS study resources with our practice questions and flashcards.

CAMS Exam Snapshot

The exam weights the four content areas unevenly — spend your time accordingly. Compliance programs and the risks and methods of money laundering carry the most weight, but the four areas are fairly close, so study all of them:^[1]

This guide follows the current sixth-edition CAMS blueprint, teaching the four content areas in a logical learning order — starting with how financial crime works, then the standards and frameworks, how to build a compliance program, and finally how investigations are conducted and supported.^[1]

1 · Risks & Methods of Money Laundering & Terrorism Financing

About 26% of the exam — one of the heaviest areas. Before you can stop money laundering, you have to understand how it works. This area covers the mechanics of laundering and terrorist financing, the techniques criminals use, the products and channels they exploit, and the red flags that give them away.

The Three Stages of Money Laundering

Money laundering is the process of disguising criminal proceeds so they appear legitimate. The classic model has three stages — and recognizing which stage you are looking at tells you which red flags to expect:

Placement is the riskiest stage for the launderer because raw cash is most exposed to detection. Layering then puts distance between the funds and their source, and integrationbrings the now-“clean” money back as legitimate-looking wealth. Not every scheme uses all three, and they can overlap.

Laundering Techniques & Typologies

The exam tests whether you can name the technique behind a scenario. Two of the most-tested are structuring (smurfing) — breaking deposits into amounts below the reporting threshold — and trade-based money laundering, which hides value in mispriced trade.^[6]

Other vehicles include shell companies, hawala and other informal value-transfer systems, casinos, real estate, and increasingly virtual assets, where pseudonymity and speed are attractive to launderers — which is why FATF now extends AML/CFT duties to virtual asset service providers.

Terrorist & Proliferation Financing

Terrorist financing differs from laundering in a crucial way: the funds may come from legitimate sources, and the amounts can be small. The focus is the unlawful intended use, not the origin — so detecting it relies more on context, behavior, and links to known parties than on the size of a transaction. Proliferation financing funds weapons of mass destruction in breach of sanctions.

Higher-Risk Products, Channels & Customers

Risk is concentrated in particular places. Correspondent banking — especially nested accountsthe correspondent cannot see — is high risk because the bank deals with another bank’s customers at a distance. Politically exposed persons, money services businesses, casinos, and customers in high-risk jurisdictions all elevate risk, as do non-face-to-face channels and products that offer anonymity or rapid cross-border movement.

Red Flags & Risk Indicators

A red flag is an indicator of potentially suspicious activity. No single flag proves wrongdoing, but together they build a picture worth investigating:

2 · Compliance Standards for AML & CFT

About 25% of the exam. AML compliance does not happen in a vacuum — it is shaped by a layered web of international standards and national laws. Know the major bodies, what each does, and how the pieces fit together.

FATF & the 40 Recommendations

The Financial Action Task Force is the global standard-setter. Its 40 Recommendations are the recognized framework, and the risk-based approach is their core principle.^[2] FATF assesses countries through mutual evaluations of both technical compliance and effectiveness, and publishes two key country lists:

A jurisdiction on the grey list (increased monitoring) or the black list (call for action) raises its geographic risk and can trigger enhanced due diligence or countermeasures.^[2]

Basel, Wolfsberg, Egmont & FIUs

Several other bodies shape practice. The Basel Committee sets banking-supervision standards, including sound customer due diligence and ML/TF risk management.^[9] The Wolfsberg Group of global banks issues practical AML, KYC, and correspondent-banking guidance.^[7]

The Egmont Group connects national financial intelligence units so they can share information securely across borders.

U.S. Framework: BSA, PATRIOT Act & OFAC

In the United States, the Bank Secrecy Act is the foundation, administered by FinCEN (the U.S. FIU).^[3] The USA PATRIOT Act expanded it with customer identification programs, enhanced correspondent due diligence, and information sharing. Separately, OFAC administers sanctions and maintains the SDN list.^[5]

EU AML Directives & Beneficial Ownership

The EU AML Directives harmonize member-state rules.^[8] The 4th introduced the risk-based approach and beneficial-ownership registers; the 5th extended rules to virtual currencies and broadened ownership transparency; and the 6th harmonized the definition of laundering offenses and listed 22 predicate offenses. A new EU AML Authority (AMLA) will directly supervise high-risk entities.

Sanctions, the Travel Rule & 314(a)/(b)

Sanctions compliance means screening parties and transactions against lists like the SDN list and blocking or rejecting prohibited dealings. The Travel Rule (FATF Recommendation 16) requires originator and beneficiary information to travel with qualifying transfers — now extended to virtual asset service providers. Under the PATRIOT Act, Section 314(a) lets FinCEN share law-enforcement requests with institutions, and Section 314(b) gives institutions a safe harbor to share information with each other.

3 · AML, CFT & Sanctions Compliance Programs

About 28% of the exam — the single heaviest area. This is the day-to-day work of an AML professional: standing up and running a program that actually detects and reports financial crime. Expect scenario questions on what to do.

The Pillars & Governance

An effective program rests on a small number of pillars, supported by board and senior-management oversight and a strong compliance culture (“tone at the top”):

Governance is often described as three lines of defense: business units own and manage risk, compliance and risk oversee, and internal audit independently assures. A designated, empowered BSA/AML compliance officer anchors the program.

The Risk Assessment & Risk-Based Approach

The enterprise-wide risk assessment is the documented foundation of the program — it identifies inherent ML/TF risks across customers, products, channels, and geographies, and maps the controls that mitigate them. The risk-based approach then directs effort to where risk is highest, distinguishing inherent risk (before controls) from residual risk (after).

KYC, CDD, EDD & Beneficial Ownership

Know Your Customer underpins everything. The level of customer due diligence scales with risk — simplified for low risk, standard for most, and enhanced for higher risk:

A core requirement is identifying the beneficial owner — the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the customer.^[4]FinCEN’s CDD Rule uses a 25% ownership threshold plus one person with significant control. The Corporate Transparency Act created a separate beneficial-ownership reporting regime, though a March 2025 FinCEN interim final rule narrowed it to foreign-formed reporting companies and exempted U.S. domestic companies and U.S. persons — so confirm the current scope rather than assuming it applies to all companies.

Transaction Monitoring & Reporting

Transaction monitoring reviews activity against expected behavior and rules to surface the unusual. Note the distinction the exam tests: a CTR is filed automatically for cash over USD 10,000 in a day regardless of suspicion, while a SAR is filed on judgment when activity is suspected to be illicit.

SAR/STR Filing & Confidentiality

When suspicion is warranted, the institution files a suspicious activity report (a suspicious transaction report outside the U.S.) with the FIU:^[3]

Training, Testing & Recordkeeping

The program is kept honest by ongoing, risk-based training so staff recognize red flags, independent testing (internal or external audit) of design and effectiveness, and recordkeeping — CDD, monitoring, and reporting records retained (commonly five years) to support investigations and examinations. FATF cautions against wholesale derisking as a substitute for managing risk.

4 · Conducting & Supporting the Investigation Process

About 21% of the exam. When monitoring or screening flags something, an investigation follows. This area covers how AML investigations are conducted and supported — the process, the inputs (screening and monitoring), and the analytics and technology used to turn alerts into a defensible filing decision.

The Investigation Process

An investigation gathers and reviews the facts behind an alert: the customer’s KYC profile, transaction history, related parties, and adverse media. The investigator builds a clear picture, documents the reasoning, and reaches a decision — clear the alert or escalate to a SAR. Strong investigations rely on enhanced due diligence to resolve open questions and a documented, repeatable case-management workflow with a full audit trail.

Sanctions & Watchlist Screening

Sanctions screening compares customers and payments against lists — the OFAC SDN list, UN, EU, and UK lists, plus PEP and adverse-media lists. Real-time payment screening checks transactions as they occur; name screening checks the customer base at onboarding and when lists change. Fuzzy matching catches misspellings and aliases — but generates false positives that must be reviewed.

Monitoring Systems & Tuning

Monitoring systems apply rules, thresholds, and scenarios to generate alerts. They must be tuned: above-the-line testing confirms current alerts are productive, and below-the-line testing checks that lowering thresholds would not miss true risk. The goal is to cut false positives without creating false negatives — genuinely suspicious activity the system fails to catch, which is the more dangerous error.

Analytics, AI & the Tools of Investigation

Alerts flow into a case management system that tracks investigations end to end with an audit trail. Investigators use network and link analysis to map relationships among accounts and parties, and increasingly machine learning to score risk and reduce false positives.

AI helps with alert triage and entity resolution — but models require validation and explainability so regulators can trust the decisions. None of these tools work without good data quality: accurate, complete, and timely data underpins effective screening and monitoring, while poor data drives false positives and missed risk.

How to Use This Study Guide

A study guide is a map, not the whole territory — use it alongside the official ACAMS study materials and our practice tools, weighting your time toward the heaviest areas. The CAMS rewards broad coverage and applied reasoning, so disciplined, spaced practice beats cramming.

CAMS Glossary

Quick definitions for the terms you’ll see most across the CAMS exam:

Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)

The foundational U.S. AML law (1970) requiring financial institutions to keep records and file reports, such as CTRs and SARs, useful in detecting financial crime.

Basel Committee

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision sets global banking-supervision standards, including guidance on sound customer due diligence and managing ML/TF risk.

Beneficial owner

The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a customer, or on whose behalf a transaction is conducted (commonly a 25% ownership threshold under the CDD Rule).

Correspondent banking

Banking services one bank (the correspondent) provides to another (the respondent) to enable cross-border payments — a higher-risk channel for laundering.

Currency Transaction Report (CTR)

A BSA report filed for cash transactions exceeding USD 10,000 in a single business day, aggregated by or through a financial institution.

Customer Due Diligence (CDD)

Identifying and verifying customers, identifying beneficial owners, understanding the relationship's purpose, and conducting ongoing monitoring on a risk basis.

Derisking

Terminating or restricting whole categories of customers to avoid rather than manage risk; FATF cautions against wholesale derisking.

DNFBPs

Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions — casinos, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals, and certain lawyers and accountants subject to AML duties.

Egmont Group

The global network of financial intelligence units that fosters secure information exchange to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)

Additional scrutiny for higher-risk customers — more identification, source-of-funds and source-of-wealth checks, and senior approval.

EU AML Directives

Successive EU directives (4th, 5th, 6th) harmonizing member states' AML/CFT rules on customer due diligence, beneficial ownership, reporting, and predicate offenses.

False positive

A screening or monitoring alert that, on review, is not a true match or not actually suspicious; high volumes strain investigative resources.

FATF

The Financial Action Task Force — the global intergovernmental body that sets AML/CFT standards (the 40 Recommendations) and assesses countries through mutual evaluations.

FATF 40 Recommendations

FATF's comprehensive framework of measures countries should implement to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

FATF black list

FATF's list of high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action, with serious deficiencies; members apply enhanced due diligence or countermeasures.

FATF grey list

FATF's list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies that are actively working with FATF to address them.

Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)

A national central agency that receives, analyzes, and disseminates suspicious-activity reports and other financial-crime information — FinCEN in the U.S.

FinCEN

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — the U.S. FIU and Treasury bureau that administers the BSA and collects and analyzes financial reports.

Hawala

An informal value-transfer system based on trust and a network of brokers that settles funds without physical or formal electronic movement.

Integration

The third stage of money laundering — returning laundered funds to the economy as apparently legitimate wealth, such as real estate, luxury goods, or business investment.

Know Your Customer (KYC)

Verifying a customer's identity and understanding the nature of their activity to assess money-laundering risk; the foundation of customer due diligence.

Layering

The second stage of money laundering — moving funds through complex transactions, transfers, and jurisdictions to obscure their illicit origin and break the audit trail.

Money laundering

The process of disguising the illicit origin of criminal proceeds so they appear to come from a legitimate source. The classic model has three stages: placement, layering, and integration.

Nested account

When a respondent bank's correspondent account is used by downstream financial institutions the correspondent cannot see, hiding the true originator.

OFAC

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted countries and persons.

Placement

The first stage of money laundering — introducing illicit cash into the financial system, for example through bank deposits, buying monetary instruments, or blending into a cash-intensive business.

Politically exposed person (PEP)

An individual entrusted with a prominent public function — and their family and close associates — posing higher corruption and laundering risk, warranting enhanced due diligence.

Predicate offense

The underlying crime — such as drug trafficking, fraud, or corruption — that generates the illicit proceeds being laundered.

Risk-based approach

FATF's core principle that institutions should identify, assess, and mitigate ML/TF risks, allocating resources to the highest-risk customers, products, and geographies.

Sanctions

Restrictive measures imposed by governments or bodies (such as the UN, OFAC, or EU) to achieve policy goals by limiting transactions with targeted parties.

Sanctions screening

Comparing customers and transactions against sanctions, PEP, and adverse-media lists to identify and block prohibited or high-risk parties.

SDN list

OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List; U.S. persons must block listed parties' property and may not transact with them.

Shell company

A company with no significant operations or assets, often used to conceal beneficial ownership and launder funds.

Structuring (smurfing)

Deliberately breaking a large transaction into multiple smaller ones below a reporting threshold to evade currency reporting requirements. Structuring is itself illegal.

Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)

A report a financial institution files with the FIU when it knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect a transaction involves illicit activity (an STR outside the U.S.).

Terrorist financing

Providing or collecting funds to support terrorism. Unlike laundering, the funds may come from legitimate sources; the focus is the unlawful intended use, often in small amounts.

Three lines of defense

A governance model: business units own and manage risk (first line); compliance and risk oversee (second); internal audit independently assures (third).

Tipping off

Illegally disclosing to a customer that a SAR has been or will be filed. SAR filings are strictly confidential.

Trade-based money laundering

Disguising criminal proceeds by misrepresenting the price, quantity, or quality of goods in trade — through over-invoicing, under-invoicing, multiple invoicing, or phantom shipments.

Transaction monitoring

Automated and manual review of customer activity against expected behavior and rules or scenarios to detect potentially suspicious transactions.

Travel Rule

The requirement that financial institutions and virtual asset service providers pass on originator and beneficiary information with qualifying value transfers.

USA PATRIOT Act

U.S. law (2001) that strengthened AML rules, requiring customer identification programs, enhanced correspondent due diligence, and information sharing.

Wolfsberg Group

An association of global banks that issues industry guidance and standards on AML, KYC, sanctions, and correspondent banking, including the CBDDQ.

Free CAMS Study Materials & Resources

Everything you need to prepare for the CAMS exam is free here — no paywall, no sign-up. This guide is the foundation; pair it with the rest of our free CAMS study materials for active recall, timed practice, and last-minute review:

• CAMS Practice Test — exam-style questions across all four content areas, with explanations.
• CAMS Flashcards — active-recall decks for the high-yield terms, rules, and typologies.

CAMS Study Guide FAQ

References

1. 1.ACAMS. “CAMS — Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Certification.” ACAMS. ↑
2. 2.Financial Action Task Force. “The FATF Recommendations (International Standards on Combating Money Laundering).” FATF. ↑
3. 3.Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). “Bank Secrecy Act.” FinCEN, U.S. Department of the Treasury. ↑
4. 4.Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). “Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions.” FinCEN. ↑
5. 5.U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN).” U.S. Department of the Treasury. ↑
6. 6.Financial Action Task Force. “Trade-Based Money Laundering.” FATF. ↑
7. 7.The Wolfsberg Group. “Wolfsberg Group Standards and Guidance.” The Wolfsberg Group. ↑
8. 8.European Commission. “Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism.” European Commission. ↑
9. 9.Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. “Sound Management of Risks Related to Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.” Bank for International Settlements. ↑

Sources for the concept answers

Every answer in the CAMS concept questions above is drawn from an official primary source:

1. Financial Action Task Force. “What is Money Laundering?.” FATF.
2. Financial Action Task Force. “Politically Exposed Persons (Recommendations 12 and 22).” FATF.
3. Financial Action Task Force. “Who We Are.” FATF.
4. Financial Action Task Force. “Transparency and Beneficial Ownership (Recommendations 24 and 25).” FATF.
5. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). “Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Filing Requirements.” FinCEN.
6. U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. “OFAC Sanctions Compliance Guidance.” U.S. Department of the Treasury.
7. ACAMS. “CAMS Certification — Conducting and Supporting the Investigation Process.” ACAMS.

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