Jun ’11 – Aug ’11 Issue

Issue 10.3

Issue: Vol. 10 No. 3

Featured

Floating Toward Disaster – A List that Looks Convincing Leaves Banks Thinking they are Covered

Floating Toward Disaster – A List that Looks Convincing Leaves Banks Thinking they are Covered

Bouvet Island has never been an easy place to find. Even the famed explorer James Cook had to call off a search when he could not locate it. He was not missing much, though. Bouvet is the glacier-covered tip of an inactive...

Successful MSB Compliance: Demystifying the Independent Review

Successful MSB Compliance: Demystifying the Independent Review

No matter if you are new to the Money Services Business (MSB) compliance world or are a seasoned professional, facing an audit can be challenging. While 31 U.S.C. Section 5318(h) of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) states that every MSB is required to have an independent review...

From the Executive Vice President
We're Going to Need a Bigger Toolbox–AML Professionals Expanding their Already Broad Horizons

We're Going to Need a Bigger Toolbox–AML Professionals Expanding their Already Broad Horizons

With apologies to the screenwriter of Jaws, it is clear that for any anti-money laundering (AML) professional to be effective in 2011, they must need to...

From the Editor
From the Editor

From the Editor

I grew up in a small town out west where summer days were spent riding my bike with my good friend Brittney. In the summer of '84, my little town experienced one of the greatest floods in its history. I remember everyone in town pitching in and sand bagging roads to keep the...

Inside this Edition
Islamic Finance, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Islamic Finance, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Islamic finance refers to a form of financing which is in compliance with Shariah or Islamic Law principles. Modern Islamic finance emerged in the 1970s, following the first oil price shock of...


Fighting Money Laundering and Fraud – A Zambian Perspective

Fighting Money Laundering and Fraud – A Zambian Perspective

In a Zambian context, "Financial Institution" is any legal entity registered by the Patents and Company Registration Agency (PACRA) and licensed and regulated by the Pensions and...


An Overview on Crime and Terrorism in Central Asia

An Overview on Crime and Terrorism in Central Asia

Editor's note: This is the last of a two-part series. Part two will discuss the position of the AML/CTF regimes in each country in Central Asia. Although critics say that the region still has...

Putting the Human in Human Trafficking

Putting the Human in Human Trafficking

As I conducted research for an article on human trafficking, I came across some images that stayed with me. These pictures, stories and statistics really did put the "human" in human trafficking...


In Search of the Hawaladar

In Search of the Hawaladar

A centuries old system of informal alternative banking, customary in many parts of the world, is beginning to emerge as a burgeoning cottage industry in the United States. As is the case with...

The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Our Fight Against Terrorist Financing

The Death of Osama Bin Laden and Our Fight Against Terrorist Financing

On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama informed America and the world that Osama Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist al Qaeda network, had been killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The stunning...

Aspects of Asia

Aspects of Asia

Aspects of Asia is a new section in the ACAMS Today that will focus on AML/CTF developments and challenges encountered in the Asia region. In the last five years, all new full membership...

AML Skills as Part of an Integrity Management Program

AML Skills as Part of an Integrity Management Program

Financial institutions are now recognizing that the skills developed to fight money laundering can be applied in a much broader arena. Articles and seminars offered by ACAMS have described the...

Floating Toward Disaster – A List that Looks Convincing Leaves Banks Thinking they are Covered

Floating Toward Disaster – A List that Looks Convincing Leaves Banks Thinking they are Covered

Editor's note: This article is the second in a series that examines how banks can better assess geographical risk. Both at client take-on and in transaction monitoring, geography plays a key...

Stuart Levey: No Substitute for Information Sharing

Stuart Levey: No Substitute for Information Sharing

ACAMS Today had the opportunity to speak with Stuart Levey at the 16th Annual International Anti-Money Laundering Conference, in Hollywood, Florida where he received the AML...

U.S. Capital Chapter

U.S. Capital Chapter

This past quarter was one of change for the U.S. Capital Chapter's board of directors. Joe Soniat, one of the founding co-chairs of the U.S. Capital Chapter, has decided to focus on the Richmond...


The Richmond Chapter

The Richmond Chapter

The ACAMS Richmond Virginia Chapter opened 2011 with a board-only planning session in January to discuss final preparations for upcoming events. On February 23rd, the...


The Greater Boston Chapter enters its second year!

The Greater Boston Chapter enters its second year!

The Greater Boston Chapter of ACAMS (the Boston Chapter) is fast approaching its one year anniversary in June. The Boston Chapter anticipates achieving the milestone century mark of...


Southern California Chapter

Southern California Chapter

ACAMS Southern California Chapter guest-speaker talked with chapter members about Shariah-compliant finance, the financial crisis, and how a bank can be compliant with both AML...


South Florida Chapter

South Florida Chapter

The ACAMS South Florida Chapter has been hard at work in the first quarter of 2011! Continuing to pursue its mission to advance the professional knowledge, skills and experience of those...


North Texas Chapter

North Texas Chapter

The North Texas ACAMS Chapter hosted its launch event in January. The event was attended by representatives from financial services, multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies...


New Chapter Steering Committee to Support Chapter Formation and Growth

New Chapter Steering Committee to Support Chapter Formation and Growth

The growth of ACAMS Chapters worldwide is increasing significantly. This growth highlights the need for information and guidance to ensure new and existing chapter success. In...


Chicago Chapter

Chicago Chapter

On March 25, 2011, the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) hosted a learning event featuring a topic very familiar to the financial...


Carolinas Chapter

Carolinas Chapter

It has been a busy spring for Carolinas ACAMS chapter members, and the executive board was no exception. In March the board welcomed its newest member — Delbert "Del" Richburg. Del...


Canadian ACAMS Chapter Event: Latest regulatory trends

Canadian ACAMS Chapter Event: Latest regulatory trends

Keeping up-to-date on the latest regulatory trends was the focus of a dynamic lunch-and-learn presentation organized by the ACAMS Canadian Chapter and attended by 200 AML...

Membership Development Department

Membership Development Department

ACAMS Today spoke with Mike Rodriguez, ACAMS chief of staff. His responsibilities include acting as the liaison for the ACAMS Task Forces and for Chapter Development. He has worked...

Daniel W. Vieira, CAMS Miami, Florida, USA

Daniel W. Vieira, CAMS Miami, Florida, USA

Daniel Vieira started his career as an external auditor working for one of the Big Four in Brazil. He joined the banking industry in 1997 as an internal auditor participating in jobs in all areas of...


Jaap van der Molen Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jaap van der Molen Amsterdam, Netherlands

Since 2008, Jaap van der Molen has directed his own company as managing director of VDM Global. Van der Molen specializes as an independent AML/CTF consultant and as a project/interim..


Mary Bashore, CAMS Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Mary Bashore, CAMS Alexandria, Virginia, USA

As a supervision analyst with the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), a federal financial regulatory agency, Mary Bashore's responsibilities include overall quality control...

Three Things a Bank Needs to Know to Stay Out of Trouble with Ponzi Schemes

Three Things a Bank Needs to Know to Stay Out of Trouble with Ponzi Schemes

During the last several years, a number of multi-billion-dollar Ponzi schemes were uncovered and rocked the financial world. Bernie Madoff ($65 billion fraud), and Allen Stanford ($8 billion fraud)...


Successful MSB Compliance: Demystifying the Independent Review

Successful MSB Compliance: Demystifying the Independent Review

No matter if you are new to the Money Services Business (MSB) compliance world or are a seasoned professional, facing an audit can be challenging. While 31 U.S.C. Section 5318(h) of the...


Deal or No Deal? Winning Moves with Vendors, Consultants and Other Service Providers

Deal or No Deal? Winning Moves with Vendors, Consultants and Other Service Providers

We love to hate them: shady purveyors of data, software and services who invariably do not meet our standards for quality, timeliness or customer service. To add insult to injury, they...

Summary of Egmont Group Enterprise-Wide STR Sharing White Paper

Summary of Egmont Group Enterprise-Wide STR Sharing White Paper

On February 3, 2011, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) published "Enterprise-wide STR Sharing: Issues and Approaches," a white paper on the sharing of suspicious...