Sep ’17 – Nov ’17 Issue

Issue 16.4

Issue: Vol. 16 No. 4

Featured
Artfully Done

Artfully Done

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) is one of the most recognizable works of Japanese art in the world…
Deconstructing a Fraudster

Deconstructing a Fraudster

What part of committing fraud is a good idea? For fraudsters, in the short term, the answer is everything. However, in the long run, the answer is nothing. The reason for this is that over time the weight of deception…
 
From the Executive Vice President
We May Never Pass This Way Again—So Fortunate to be in AML!

We May Never Pass This Way Again—So Fortunate to be in AML!

The money laundering challenge in the U.S. and globally is a relatively recent issue. Starting with the drug trafficking crisis in the 1980s, the U.S. passed the first…
From the Editor
Engulfed by a Masterpiece

Engulfed by a Masterpiece

Last year I had the opportunity to visit the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. I have visited this city on numerous occasions, but I have never made it to l’Orangerie…
 
Inside this Edition
Emerging “Market” Trends

Emerging “Market” Trends

By now, certain shelf items have been labeled with a stock keeping unit (SKU), been advertised in circulars and placed out on display for resale. With the science of inventory management…
 
Cybersecurity: Nation-State Actors, Encrypted Cybercrimes and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Cybersecurity: Nation-State Actors, Encrypted Cybercrimes and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

CNN recently reported that the banking industry generally escaped the devastating impact of the global WannaCry ransomware attack. Evidence is mounting steadily that…
 
Artfully Done

Artfully Done

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) is one of the most…
 
Carrots and Sticks…and Sanctions

Carrots and Sticks…and Sanctions

From behind a bank of computer monitors, performing day-to-day compliance operations, it is easy to see economic sanctions as a binary thing: sanctions targets are persona non grata, and…
 
The Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Identification Requirement: Why It Matters to All of Us

The Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Identification Requirement: Why It Matters to All of Us

Money laundering, terrorist financing, evading taxes, bribery, corruption, abuse of human rights and even modern-day slavery differ in their nature, but they have some things in common…
 
Why the Anti-Financial Crime Community Is Strongly Positioned for a Centralized Cross-Institutional Artificial Intelligence Platform

Why the Anti-Financial Crime Community Is Strongly Positioned for a Centralized Cross-Institutional Artificial Intelligence Platform

In the present environment, roughly one in three organizations experience economic crime, only 50 percent of money laundering or terrorist financing occurrences are identified by system…
 
The “Risk-Based” Principle of AML Management

The “Risk-Based” Principle of AML Management

The “risk-based” anti-money laundering (AML) principle was first promoted by British regulatory authorities. In January 2000, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was the first to put forth…
 
議反洗錢管理之 “風險為本” 澳門反洗錢師專業協會張帆副理事長

議反洗錢管理之 “風險為本” 澳門反洗錢師專業協會張帆副理事長

“風“風險為本”（Risk-based）反洗錢原則最早由英國監管機構宣 導，英國金融監管局（FSA）最早在2000年1月制定的《新千年的 新監管者》提出這一理念。隨後，被沃爾夫斯堡集團…
 
Attracting Compliance Talent

Attracting Compliance Talent

For financial institutions around the world, attracting and retaining top talent in the compliance team is essential. As regulatory scrutiny has ramped up in recent years and the…
 
Using Data Analytics to Identify AML Risk

Using Data Analytics to Identify AML Risk

Data is the lifeblood of financial institutions and other organizations. It is used to run processes, manage financials, predict risk, prove compliance, target customers and…
 
Deconstructing a Fraudster

Deconstructing a Fraudster

What part of committing fraud is a good idea? For fraudsters, in the short term, the answer is everything. However, in the long run, the answer is nothing. The reason for this is that over…
 
Confidential CongratulationsConfidential Congratulations

Confidential Congratulations

Feedback and “war stories” from successful suspicious activity report (SAR)-based investigations are an often sought topic for ACAMS articles, conferences, seminars and presentations…
 
Fixing What Is Not Broken: Should you make changes to a satisfactory AML program?

Fixing What Is Not Broken: Should you make changes to a satisfactory AML program?

An anti-money laundering (AML) program that has been deemed acceptable by regulators has reached the pinnacle and there is nowhere to go but down. So, why change anything? Changing…
 
Community Bankers and the New CDD Rule

Community Bankers and the New CDD Rule

The goal of the Community Banking Corner is to provide useful tips for Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) professionals in community banks to help them in their…
 
EU Challenges: What is new?

EU Challenges: What is new?

Lately, the EU has been ramping up its focus on preventing financial crime, with regulators creating entirely new paradigms for organizations operating here and the press reporting…
 
Chasing the Money: Celebrating 25 Years of Homeland Security Investigations El Dorado Task Force

Chasing the Money: Celebrating 25 Years of Homeland Security Investigations El Dorado Task Force

Amidst the legions of buildings in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, sits an expansive, nondescript, yet historic redbrick building. From the outside, one would never guess that the 30 different…
 
Lauren Kohr and Jack Sonnenschein: Obtaining a ‘World-Class’ Certification

Lauren Kohr and Jack Sonnenschein: Obtaining a ‘World-Class’ Certification

ACAMS Today had the opportunity to sit down with two graduates of the Advanced Certification program, which aims to provide financial crime professionals with the tools and knowledge…
 
Sapin II—A First Step Toward a European Law on Corruption?

Sapin II—A First Step Toward a European Law on Corruption?

In December 2016, France adopted the Sapin II law. One might think of it as just another piece of law in the legislative jungle; however, it is not. Indeed, it is the first strong French…
 
Casinos Should Bet Big on Enhanced AML Surveillance

Casinos Should Bet Big on Enhanced AML Surveillance

Anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime as a whole, has been a growing concern within the gaming industry as casinos continue to navigate how best to control the flow of illicit…
 
You Have Been Hit With an Enforcement Action—Now what?

You Have Been Hit With an Enforcement Action—Now what?

An enforcement action is one of the most painful experiences in the life of any institution. Enforcement actions come in all types, shapes and sizes—in areas ranging from financial crimes…
 
Bridging the Gap Between Risk Assessment and Transaction Monitoring

Bridging the Gap Between Risk Assessment and Transaction Monitoring

A robust money laundering/terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk assessment is the cornerstone of a sound compliance program. With more reliance on automated transaction monitoring…
 
The Three Building Blocks of a Centralized Compliance System

The Three Building Blocks of a Centralized Compliance System

When it comes to watchlist screening, what is at stake in today’s high-risk business environment? Well, in 2016, nonbank institutions received 90 percent of all Office of Foreign…
 
Tanya Montoya: It’s All About Risk Assessment

Tanya Montoya: It’s All About Risk Assessment

ACAMS Today spoke with Tanya Montoya, senior product development manager at ACAMS, about ACAMS Risk Assessment and human trafficking. As senior product…
 
Thephil Russelliah Roby, CAMS—Riverwoods, IL, USA

Thephil Russelliah Roby, CAMS—Riverwoods, IL, USA

Thephil Russelliah Roby has over 12 years’ of experience with financial institutions in the creation and development of their anti-money laundering and sanctions programs, both in…
 
Marios M. Skandalis, FCCA, CFC, CFE, FICA—Nicosia, Cyprus

Marios M. Skandalis, FCCA, CFC, CFE, FICA—Nicosia, Cyprus

Marios Skandalis is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (U.K.), a licensed member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (U.S.) and a…
 
Sven Stumbauer, CAMS—New York, NY, USA

Sven Stumbauer, CAMS—New York, NY, USA

Sven Stumbauer is the managing director at AlixPartners. In this role he leads AlixPartners’ global anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions practice, serving clients across North America…
 
Where has your ACAMS Today been? Mongolia, Cancun, New York, California

Where has your ACAMS Today been? Mongolia, Cancun, New York, California

Vasu Sanghani with her March-May 2017 edition of the ACAMS Today at a Starbucks coffee shop in Walnut Creek, California. Kaluwa Maitre-Avril spotted with the Seventh Law…