Victoria Alvarez
Victoria Alvarez is a compliance and financial crime prevention professional based in Irving, Texas, currently serving as a Compliance Risk Analyst at Citi. She specializes in investigating complex transaction alerts, disputed account closures, and potential AML, sanctions, and regulatory risks, providing clear, defensible recommendations to Operations and senior management. Her work ensures that the bank maintains compliance integrity while minimizing unnecessary escalations.
Victoria began her career in financial crime prevention after graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from UTRGV Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship. She advanced through roles at Lone Star National Bank, conducting SAR investigations, high-risk client reviews, and transaction monitoring, gaining hands-on expertise in risk-based analysis and regulatory compliance. Her early roles in administrative and customer service positions helped her develop a detail-oriented mindset and strong problem-solving skills.
Victoria emphasizes a philosophy of thoroughness, critical thinking, and mentorship in her work. She trains junior analysts on investigative standards, regulatory expectations, and effective use of tools such as Actimize and Oracle Mantas, ensuring her team consistently delivers audit-ready documentation. Fluent in Spanish and deeply committed to professional excellence, she has been recognized as one of the Influential Women and continues to contribute to advancing compliance and financial crime prevention in the banking industry.
• Multimedia Specialist Certificate
• UTRGV Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship- B.B.A.
• South Texas College
What do you attribute your success to?
Coming from a very small town in Mexico, there wasn't a lot of opportunities to grow. My parents always pushed us to get out of there and do something better and greater. I feel like that push from them was always - has always been a driving force to just keep going and doing more.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say not be afraid. I feel like finance and banking has a bad rep overall with it being like a very stressful job, which it is, but it can also be very fulfilling and very fun at the same time.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge and opportunity in my field is managing the surge of system-generated alerts—while algorithms make detecting suspicious activity more efficient, the role requires careful evaluation to distinguish true risk from false positives.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Right now, since everything's so connected and we're always online, we're always on screens, I feel like if you don't actually make an effort to disconnect, there's no way to be outside of it. Everything's so connected, everything's online, everything's like we're always plugged into something. So you have to make an effort to actually get outside of it, just so for me to keep sane, in a way.