The human brain is quite amazing. It can take an incomplete image and fill in the gaps to create a complete picture. Research suggests that your brain processes the insertions it makes as if it had actually seen the complete picture. Look at the image on the right, for example. It may take a moment, [...]

Wrath. Greed. Sloth. Pride. Lust. Envy. Gluttony. They’re often referred to as “capital vices” due to their tendency to lead to other sins. While financial institutions deal more with money than with morals, there are several mistakes with currency transaction reports that can reflect unfavorably on your entire BSA program. Though CTRs may sound easy [...]

You don't have to be a hypochondriac to be a little nervous about waiting for the results of a blood test, especially if you had cause to believe you might have some serious illness. The financial world’s equivalent of a blood test is the Fair Lending examination. Your examiner essentially puts your institution under the [...]

Besides being trustworthy, loyal, thrifty, and brave, a Boy Scout is always prepared. After all, that's their motto. Be prepared. It's a good motto. You may laugh at your former Boy Scout friend who packs an extra heavy sleeping bag and winter clothes to the weekend summer camping trip, but as soon as the dark clouds roll [...]

A good superhero movie isn't complete without the supervillain. In several superhero films, problems arise when the villain discovers, or stumbles upon, some sort of secret formula that gives superhuman strength, causes a transformation into an aggressively evil creature, or creates some sort of weaponized chemical. Sometimes, like in The Amazing Spider-Man, the villain starts off with [...]

Asking which is the most common compliance question is like asking which is the most popular ice cream flavor—kind of expected (it’s vanilla according to the International Dairy Foods Association). But rather than deal with the obvious, vanilla question of "How do I ensure a satisfactory rating on my next compliance examination?", we've categorized questions [...]

With nearly 130 episodes spanning 3 years, Risk Watch has covered a lot of topics. One of the topics we've revisited several times is suspicious activity reporting, or SARs. We've brought these six SAR episodes out of the Risk Watch Central vault (available through My Risk Inbox) to help you brush up on your SAR basics at no [...]

The CFPB recently released a proposal to amend Regulation B, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. With the proposed amendments, the CFPB is seeking to give mortgage lenders more flexibility when it comes to collecting consumers’ demographic information. Currently, under Reg. B, lenders are not permitted to ask consumers about their race, religion, national [...]

Trying to build a house with just a hammer and a few nails isn't going to work out nearly as well as having access to the whole arsenal of homebuilding tools and machinery. In a similar fashion, preparing for a CRA examination will work out much better if you utilize more of the tools that [...]