How and where can a professional acquire specialised knowledge in asset recovery? A year ago, that question didn’t have an easy answer. Today, it does: with the postgraduate programme “CAS Combating Financial Crime Through Asset Recovery”, offered by the Basel Institute on Governance and the University of Basel.

This July, we were delighted to welcome the first cohort to our headquarters in Basel and host the 1.5-day hybrid closing event.

Here are a few highlights from the programme, and what participants themselves had to say about their experience.

A programme unique in its class

This Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) was developed to address a longstanding gap in postgraduate education. While aspects of asset recovery are covered in some university courses, there has until now been no similar qualification combining academic learning with practical skills.

The programme draws on more than two decades of experience from our International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), which has worked with authorities around the world to strengthen financial investigations, asset recovery and international cooperation.

Graduates receive a CAS degree from the University of Basel, one of Switzerland’s leading universities.

A global classroom

The first cohort brought together prosecutors, investigators, lawyers, anti-money laundering specialists, development practitioners, bankers and policy professionals from 10 countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe.

The online format with live sessions helped make that possible. It gave participants the flexibility to join from anywhere in the world and balance the course with their day-to-day work – and, just as importantly, to connect with peers working under completely different legal systems. That’s exactly the kind of contact that matters for international cooperation.

As one participant from Europe explained:

The exchange with other participants working in different jurisdictions was extremely valuable. That was crucial for seeing how asset recovery is approached differently elsewhere, and what options other jurisdictions have. Asset recovery is a global issue now – money moves across the world, so you can’t just sit in your office thinking everything stops at the border.

The cohort also spanned different levels of expertise, from prosecutors to lawyers working in cybercrime to people just entering the field. As another participant, who works in development cooperation, explains:

After having worked for two decades in development cooperation, I realised that if less money was lost to financial crime, countries could decide more autonomously where to invest in their own development. So I got interested in the topic of money laundering, and how we could get better at fighting it.

Learning by doing

When we asked participants what they found most valuable or unique about the programme, the answer was always the same: its practical approach.

Asset recovery is a complex discipline that spans financial investigations, international cooperation, prosecution and the management and return of confiscated assets. Professionals working in this field need not only legal knowledge, but the practical skills that can be applied across different jurisdictions and institutional settings.

Over six months, the cohort engaged in interactive online sessions built around real cases and realistic simulated investigation exercises, guided by practitioners who have investigated and prosecuted financial crime themselves.

A participant from Uruguay explains:

In most certifications, the focus tends to stay on theory and definitions, spending a lot of time discussing ethical and regulatory issues. But in this case, it was so case-specific and applied that by the end, you know what you have to do, you know how to investigate and you know the steps for asset recovery.

The final project: a professional opportunity

That practical focus culminates in the personal project each participant is now completing in order to graduate: a chance to advance a project from their own work, a side interest or simply an area they want to explore in more depth.

One participant is taking the programme to build up a specialised Asset Recovery Office within the Ministry of Justice. It tackles the problem that currently, competence is split between the prosecutor’s office and the police, and neither magistrates nor police officers have the same view of the data.

Another participant is working on a proposal to bring public-private collaboration to her country’s asset recovery efforts. She noticed a clear gap: information that should flow between the two sectors simply wasn’t being exchanged. Throughout the programme, she tested her model with instructors, refining it with their feedback. Her final project now sets out how that collaboration could actually work in practice.

Discussing future career steps

The closing event was also a chance to look ahead to the careers and opportunities this certificate can open. An exclusive panel discussion showcased the breadth of career paths in combating financial crime, bringing together experts from international organisations, the public sector and private industry.

The panel featured Kodjo Attisso (Coordinator of the Illicit Finance Fusion Center – Africa at UNODC), Federica Maschera (Group Financial Crime Engagement Manager at HSBC Holdings plc), Pedro Gomes Pereira (Advisor on Anti-Corruption and Asset Recovery) and Maria Schnebli (Federal Prosecutor at the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland).

The panellists shared their career paths and challenges in the various sectors, and the steps they took to get to their current affiliations.

Maria Schnebli also gave a keynote speech on international collaboration and the challenges of combating financial crime from a Swiss prosecutor’s perspective. This tied in perfectly with the work the students had done throughout the course.

The Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund

Some students in this cohort could only take the course thanks to financial support. We launched the Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund to help cover tuition costs for talented professionals from low-income backgrounds.

We have received, and continue to receive, generous donations from organisations and individuals alike.

Julio Petrucci, a prosecutor at the Attorney General’s Office of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was one of the participants who benefited. As he puts it:

To donors and benefactors, I would say that your contribution isn’t just individual support for one student – it’s a direct investment in justice across our countries. Thanks to your contribution, I now have the tools to investigate complex crimes and recover assets that belong to society.

We are deeply grateful to our donors for making these opportunities possible, especially the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators, Bonifassi Avocats, Bennett Jones, ECO Strategic Communications and Kellerhals Carrard.

Another way to build capacity

As the first cohort prepares to graduate, the programme marks another step in the Basel Institute’s efforts to strengthen global capacity to investigate financial crime, recover stolen assets, and build a new generation of practitioners connected through a worldwide community of practice.

Along with our second postgraduate programme, “CAS Mastering Today’s Anti-Corruption Challenges”, it marks our current portfolio of practice related academic programmes to support careers, knowledge and skills development of talented international professionals and practitioners.

Congratulations to all the participants of this first cohort.

Learn more

• Discover “Combating Financial Crime Through Asset Recovery”

  Postgraduate programme delivered online in partnership with the University of Basel.

• Contribute to the Gretta Fenner Scholarship Fund

  Help train the next generation of anti-corruption professionals.

• Discover our offer of short online training courses

  Practitioner-led training focused on real-world financial crime challenges.