the AffirmX blog
The global dominance of the U.S. dollar generates trillions of dollars of daily transaction volume through U.S. financial institutions, creating significant exposure to potential money laundering activity. Although the U.S. has implemented a robust set of anti-money laundering rules designed to hinder criminals, criminals are resourceful. They continue to look for new vulnerabilities and methods [...]
The ever-increasing importance of a robust BSA/AML monitoring system has become more than clear in recent years. However, an all-encompassing monitoring system often feels beyond the reach of the smaller financial institution. Resources are finite, and some institutions are left floundering when attempting to cover all their bases. What must your small financial institution do to [...]
In August 2015, the OCC announced Community Reinvestment Act performance evaluations for 30 national banks and federal savings associations. Of those evaluations 5 were rated outstanding and 24 were found satisfactory; however, one bank was rated “substantial noncompliance.” The Lemont National Bank was found to be exceptionally lacking in meeting the credit needs of its entire [...]
In 2013, the CFPB issued guidance on providing mortgage applicants with a list of homeownership counseling organizations. This spring, the bureau not only restated that guidance, but also added further guidance for mortgage lenders. With this further clarification we can expect to see greater scrutiny from the CFPB. Has your institution incorporated the new guidance [...]
Billions of dollars are transferred out of the country every year. But even with such high traffic, there is still quite a bit of bewilderment surrounding the roads of remittance transfers. This confusion comes with good reason; remittance has many rules and is closely regulated. What Qualifies as a Remittance Transfer? Let’s start with the [...]
The 2015 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment is an unprecedented report based on an analysis of more than 5,000 law enforcement cases, reporting by U.S. financial institutions, and reports from both the government and the private sector. The findings divulge that although U.S. wealth and resources are an attractive target for a wide variety of [...]
This post was originally posted by CU Insight. Everyone who drives a car knows that the cost of ownership doesn’t end when you walk out of the dealership with the keys in your hand. Cars require constant care and tuning up (not to mention that dreaded emissions test every year). Similarly, your anti-money laundering (AML) [...]
Recent regulatory activity, especially by the CFPB, is serving notice to all financial institutions to pay close attention to their advertisements to make sure they are not considered deceptive. Sometimes these fines are not especially large, but the headlines are. What can we learn from these actions to avoid becoming the next big news story? [...]
Even though ESIGN Act has been around since 2000, with more and more consumers pushing for online services, from receiving their statements in an email to online applications for a loan, we're seeing a surprising number of lingering ESIGN compliance issues. That's why it is a good idea to occasionally step back and look at [...]
A version of this post was originally published on CU Insight. Congratulations! You’ve just been made head coach of a major college basketball team and are now responsible for improving their ranking. All anyone will tell you is the number of wins and losses from last year. Based on this information alone, you have one [...]
