For many Bank Secrecy Act officers and their boards of directors, the thing that haunts their dreams most is their examiners finding some suspicious transactions that should have been investigated, but weren't. If such transactions are found, what typically follows are two questions along the lines of: Why weren't these transactions identified by the institution [...]
Advances in technology make it difficult to know what is safe and who to trust, especially for the elderly population. This makes them prime targets for fraudsters. In fact, it is estimated that about 5 million seniors were swindled for nearly $3 billion in the last year alone. Taking this down to a more individual [...]
Hard to believe it now, but up until 1998, there was no cap on the business lending for credit unions. In response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would have forced millions of credit union members who to leave their credit unions, Congress passed a measure, called the Credit Union Membership Access Act, that [...]
FinCEN, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, doesn't publish too many alerts. In fact, for the first half of 2019, it had published only nine news items. So when it published three on a single day in July 2019 on one subject alone, it's clear that one subject had gotten its attention. The focus of this [...]
FinCEN recently highlighted the work of a financial institution that involved Suspicious Activity Reporting and Currency Transaction Reporting as it pertains to true beneficiaries. In this case, the bad actors recruited heroin addicts to steal certain types of goods from stores in the Chicago area. They exchanged their stolen goods for cash from small stores [...]
This trade-based money laundering scheme involved shell companies in Mexico and the U.S. and batches of obsolete cell phones, generating more than $100 million in illicit funds. by Dayne Bloxham AdvisX When it comes to identifying suspicious transactional activity, knowing what to look for is half the battle. FinCEN recently highlighted an example [...]
by Ken Agle The more front line and BSA personnel understand about the how Suspicious Activity Reporting and Currency Transaction Reports fit into the overall equation of tracking down criminals, terrorists and other bad actors, the more likely it is for a financial institution’s BSA program to be effective. Understanding context helps keep BSA reporting [...]
Find out how you could have free ongoing access to AffirmX's complaint management solution. Would you describe the complaint management solution at your financial institution as (a) hopelessly complicated, or (b) something you make up as you go? We hear from more and more financial institutions that examiners are looking at how they're set up [...]
See below for information about how to get a free copy of the newly updated 2018 Record Retention Schedule... To shred, or not to shred – now that is the real question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of an examiner who finds you shred too soon, or to [...]
In banking, disclosures matter, especially when it comes to credit cards. The rules, and they are not a few, are specifically spelled out in great detail. Where it can get a little fuzzy is when third parties enter the equation. This is especially true with third parties known as independent service organizations, or ISOs, as [...]
