Sep ’18 – Nov ’18 Issue

Issue 17.4

Issue: Vol. 17 No. 4

Featured

From the Director of Editorial Content

All In

“Think globally, act locally” expresses the faith that it is possible to change the world by improving conditions in our own…

From the Editor

In a Faraway Galaxy…Or Financial Institution

In 1977, Star Wars exploded on the big screen. Being science fiction, many of the…


Inside this Edition

The Eradication of Organ Trafficking: A Case for Partnerships and Protocols in AML Environments

Organ transplantation is a medical phenomenon that began in the middle of the 20th century. It restores an individual’s wellbeing and capacity for a productive life and brings immeasurable relief…


De-Risking and the Effects on the World’s Neediest

A man walks into a bank…Sounds like the opening line of a joke. However, there is no humor in this tale. The man tells the bank’s customer service representative that he is the executive…


Avoiding Personal Liability is a Personal Responsibility for BSA Officers

Personal liability—these two words took the compliance profession by storm after former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued the so-called “Yates Memo” titled Individual


Sanctions Double Dutch

Adjusting to changes in U.S. sanctions compliance challenges and regulatory expectations is like jumping rope. If the leap is made too late, one inevitably feels the lash of the rope as it hits their…


Communications Data Retention: Reconciling Privacy and Security

In the U.S., the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 was signed into law January 19, 2018. Privacy and civil rights groups urged Congress to require a warrant when…


Sports Betting: Improving Your Odds Against AML Risk

On May 14, 2018, a historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992, which previously prohibited states, except…


After the Equifax Data Breach: Cybersecurity and Identity Theft Protection for Financial Institutions and Their Customers

The Equifax data breach of mid 2017 is one of the worst known data breaches—so far. Data breaches get a lot of attention lately and perhaps eventually countries will take the issue seriously…


APG Anti-Money Laundering Mutual Evaluation—Satisfactory Achievements and Future Effectiveness of Macau

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), in its annual meeting held on July 19, 2017, adopted the mutual evaluation report of the Macau Special Administrative Region (Macau SAR)…


Dealing With Gaps in Your Resume and Employment History

The Great Recession affected all of our careers in different ways. With the right perspective, just keeping one’s job between 2007 and 2010 was a blessing, in and of itself. However, millions of…


The Future of Community Banking: Artificial Intelligence, Sanctions and Cryptocurrency

A conversation between Carl Francois, SVP BSA manager at South State Bank, and Rebecca “Becky” Schauer Robertson, EVP director of AML compliance at South State…


Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: What do we know?

From Netflix recommending the next TV series to binge, to Apple unlocking iPhones through image recognition, artificial intelligence (AI) has become ingrained in day-to-day life. So, if a…


The Artificial Intelligence Revolution Is Coming…

The buzz around intelligent technology has reached fever pitch. For those who grew up on comic books and old school science fiction, it is an exciting time. The magic of potential is back. For…


Brand New Currencies Search For Good Old Regulators

Virtual currencies are revolutionary because money now no longer depends on a government’s central bank. For years, banknotes and coins were produced by central institutions and…


Welcoming the Philippines to the ACAMS Family

On June 18, 2018, ACAMS launched the Philippine Symposium and welcomed a new chapter at the Asian Development Bank (ABD), whose headquarters are in Manila. With over 250…


AML’s Road Trip

Location, location, location” has been a real estate mantra for as long as anyone can remember, but can location also hold the same significant value in anti-money laundering (AML) investigations?…


Integrating Cyber Incidents Into Your Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Program

Cybersecurity has traditionally been considered outside of the standard anti-money laundering (AML) program and many AML departments lack expertise in this area. Parallel that…


Betting On Technology to Keep Pace With AML Compliance Requirements

Diversification in gambling offerings, and more specifically, the growth in online gambling and the emergence of stricter regulatory requirements calls for smarter technologies to make…


Terrorist Financing: Visualizing Funding Flows

There is one constant in terrorism—the requirement for financing. There must be a steady stream of funds from the point of origin to the point of distribution. Whether the funding is…


Geography Risk

A financial institution should know and understand its domestic and foreign geography risk. That is nothing new. It is understood that geography risk is part of a sound Bank Secrecy Act…


Todd Beck, CAMS: The Attribute of Flexibility in AML

ACAMS Today  sat down with Todd Beck, senior product manager in education at ACAMS, to discuss the past, present and future of ACAMS’ Certificates product line—now 19 titles and growing…


El-Sherif Abd El-Razek, CAMS-Audit, CCO, CICA—Cairo, Egypt

El-Sherif Abd El-Razek currently serves as the chief executive officer of compliance and corporate governance and the general secretariat of the board of directors at the National Bank…


Marc Maramag, CAMS—Staten Island, NY, USA

Marc Maramag is a vice president in the anti-financial crime control-testing unit of Deutsche Bank. He has over 25 years of experience working in various financial institutions, with over…


Rosemary Matthews, CAMS—Charlotte, NC, USA

Rosemary Matthews is a monitoring and testing officer at BB&T Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina. Matthews was awarded a first class bachelor’s degree in American studies and politics from…