Brandon Tate is a Columbia Bank vice president and Deputy Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) officer based in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. He is responsible for managing anti-money laundering and enhanced due diligence investigations, and developing and enhancing written procedures, training and certification processes to maximize BSA compliance across the organization. He is the primary resource and subject-matter expert for Columbia staff and line management in meeting their compliance responsibilities.

Tate’s invaluable contributions to Columbia include growing the BSA department from five analysts to 13 in less than two years and restructuring the department into three functional work units to create new synergies and more effective work products. In addition, the department ensures that internal controls of BSA and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) programs are of appropriate design and complexity to support the bank’s risk profile, while ensuring that the programs are comprehensive, data-driven and continually upgraded to protect the bank and customers.

Tate is a 17-year banking veteran who began his career at Wells Fargo Bank in 2005 and has spent the majority of his banking tenure studying and working in the BSA and OFAC compliance arenas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Portland State University in 2008. In addition, he is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Specialist (CAMS) and a Global Compliance Sanctions Specialist (CGSS).