Featured
Captagon: A Dangerous Pill to Swallow
In early September 2022, Syria’s Ministry of Interior released a video showing dozens of seized hummus bowls. A bowl is subsequently picked up and peeled with a knife, revealing that the bowls were concealing an illicit drug called Captagon.
Casinos: Responding to New and Evolving Money Laundering Risks
Throughout history, people have engaged in games of chance for entertainment or financial gain. Games of chance are, at their core, based on mathematics and probability. A roll of the dice or spin of the wheel, in conjunction with a set of rules...
The Importance of Collaboration in CSE Investigation
Child sexual exploitation (CSE), child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and child sex trafficking (CST) are serious crimes that adversely impact children being coerced or manipulated into engaging in sexual activity for financial gain.
From the Editor
Just Say No
It seems that almost everyone in my family was born in September. While I was frantically doing some birthday shopping for multiple family members, I came across a vintage “just say no” t-shirt. The echoes of my youth flooded my memories. I remember being taught the “Just Say No” campaign in school during the early ‘80s and ‘90s.
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL CONTENT
A Community Convenes—Again
We are publishing this issue of ACAMS Today in conjunction with our biggest assembly, taking place October 2-4, in Las Vegas. So, if you are reading this in Las Vegas, welcome! If this is your first ACAMS Assembly, I hope the opportunity to engage with more than 2,000 dedicated anti-financial crime (AFC) professionals is as energizing and enlightening for you as it is for me when I attend ACAMS events throughout the year.
Inside this Edition
- AFC Challenges
- Career Guidance
- Community Banking Corner
- Compliance
- Global Financial Crime Review
- Interviews
- Know Your Chapter
- Meet the ACAMS Staff
- Member Spotlights
- Practical Solutions
Deterring Financial Crimes While Respecting Data Sovereignty
Financial crimes such as money laundering, fraud and terrorist financing continue to pose significant risks to the stability and integrity of the global financial system. Governments and regulatory bodies have responded by implementing strict measures to detect, prevent and report such activities.
Structuring: AML’s Reddest Flag
There seems to be regular if not constant debate in anti-money laundering/Bank Secrecy Act (AML/BSA) compliance circles about finding ways to reduce the “burden” of filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) based on structuring (also known as smurfing). Structuring currency seems to have taken on a persona that it is more of a nuisance to AML detection and compliance efforts than a potentially valuable investigative lead with which it is more often associated.
A Look at the Latest Cryptocurrency Criminal Cases
Cryptocurrency has become increasingly entrenched in our society and the financial system for the past 10 years. Popular cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Monero (XMR), have grown exponentially both in value and application since 2016. Bitcoin, for example, has skyrocketed to a price over $30,000 between 2021 to 2023, now towering over its price from 2017 to 2020.
BNPL: A Road Map for AML Compliance Officers
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) technology has significantly changed consumer purchasing behavior. The financial service allows consumers to buy a product or service “now” and pay “later” in installments over a specified period, with little or no interest, becoming one of the fastest-growing e-commerce services in the world. However, the rapid expansion of BNPL introduces concerns about its vulnerability to money laundering and other financial crime.
Health Care Payments: The Challenges and Risks
Recent trends have highlighted a troubling reality: Criminals are becoming aware of a new gold mine in the health care payments industry, and many health care providers are ill-equipped to stop them. There are more than 900 operating businesses in the U.S. that are paying on behalf of health care plans.
What Are the Sunday Scaries?
The term “Sunday Scaries,” sometimes referred to as the Sunday Blues, is believed to have been coined in or around 2009. There is some debate regarding who created the term. Some say it was a person who would eventually become a TikTok influencer.
Information Sharing Can Improve Reviews
Earlier this year, an article was published on why community banks should participate in 314(b). Covered in the preceding article were reasons why some institutions may choose not to participate and the attempt to dispel each reason.
Overcoming AML Compliance Disruptions in FIs
There is no question that financial service providers frequently struggle to find the time and resources to recruit and train staff, manage volume surges and comply with emergent regulatory demands. These anti-money laundering (AML) compliance disruptions require that teams be resilient and adaptable. How do teams smoothly navigate these disturbances and overcome them? The answer is to adopt a technology-enabled risk-based approach that ensures organizations are using resources efficiently.
Building a Robust AML Compliance Program: Key Components for Success
With the growing complexity of our regulatory environment, financial institutions (FIs) and businesses continue to be subject to ever-increasing scrutiny and legal obligations to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. In the Caribbean, there is no difference.
Monitoring and Testing: Incorporating Quality Data is Key in Today’s Digital World
Compliance practitioners have long sought to implement compliance monitoring and testing functions. But what does that mean in today’s data-driven world, where customer onboarding and transactions occur at the speed of a click, blurring the boundaries of what is real and what is virtual? Compliance professionals cannot fall into the proverbial trap of implementing a quality assurance or quality control function and thinking it meets what is necessary today in our rapidly evolving digital world.
Exploring the Role of Generative AI in Enhancing Financial Crime Compliance
By this point, it is becoming clear to most banking institutions and compliance officials that technology can be a potent weapon to be used against financial crimes, such as money laundering and fraud.
Corruption, Money Laundering and the Economy
Corruption is not a recent phenomenon; it has been in existence for over 2,000 years. Corruption prevailed in many ancient kingdoms highlighted throughout history. Corruption is a much larger phenomenon that can only be observed and is subject to one’s perception of the act being committed. However, many scholars have defined corruption as intentional noncompliance within a transaction that results in an advantage being given to an individual or a group of individuals.
Captagon: A Dangerous Pill to Swallow
In early September 2022, Syria’s Ministry of Interior released a video showing dozens of seized hummus bowls. A bowl is subsequently picked up and peeled with a knife, revealing that the bowls were concealing an illicit drug called Captagon.
Germany’s New AML Authority and Its Uphill Battle
When Lisa Paus, a financial expert in Germany’s Green Party, tried to identify the owners of the Kundamm-Karee ‘Fürst’ project, she hit a wall. The approximately 635,071-square-foot urban area that would house office spaces, retail stores and art galleries at Kurfürstendamm, one of Berlin’s most well-known avenues, had switched proprietors seven times in 2021, costing €1.02 billion euros ($1.32 billion).
Human Trafficking in Times of Conflict
The trafficking of human beings increases dramatically in times of conflict, and the combination of conflict and migration leaves a significant number of unaccompanied migrant and refugee children at high risk of institution-related trafficking, as well as various forms of abuse and exploitation.
The Importance of Collaboration in CSE Investigations
Child sexual exploitation (CSE), child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and child sex trafficking (CST) are serious crimes that adversely impact children being coerced or manipulated into engaging in sexual activity for financial gain. The ACAMS Today Back-to-the-Basics article, “Beyond The Headlines—A Real Look at Trends in CSAM and CST,” introduces and delves deeper into this topic and provides a classification for these heinous crimes.
Cleaning Up Dirty Money in the Art Trade
The art market’s vulnerabilities to financial crime have recently become a growing concern in the U.S., Europe and the U.K. Increasingly, authorities have turned their attention to art market transactions, acknowledging that—like other high-end assets—the art trade is ripe for money laundering. Scrutiny has been expedited and heightened by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Jennifer Shasky Calvery: Achieving Global Effectiveness
Jennifer Shasky Calvery is the global head of Financial Crime at HSBC and is an experienced global executive with a demonstrated history of achievement in the legal profession, as a regulator and as a compliance professional in financial services, advocating as well as delivering greater transparency and integrity.
Honorable Rodney Hood: NCUA’s Journey of Compliance, Community and Adaptability
The Honorable Rodney E. Hood talked to ACAMS Today about his career, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the financial crime trends that affect credit unions and more. President Donald J. Trump nominated Rodney Hood for the NCUA Board on January 19, 2019.
Jack Thompson: Holistically Fighting Financial Crime
A CAMS Today caught up with Jack Thompson, head of the U.S. Financial Services Business Unit at SAS. Thompson leads the charge in delivering cutting-edge analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to clients in banking, insurance and fintech. With a proven track record of success, Thompson oversees a top-performing team of sales and technical talent with the common goal to transform the financial services industry by providing enterprise decisions at scale.
Banreservas: Anti-corruption Approach
ACAMS Today Español Digital met with Heiromy Castro Milanés, general director of Compliance, and Marbel Guilamo Peña, Ethical Compliance, Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption division manager at Banco de Reservas (Banreservas), to discuss the recent recognition awarded to their institution for their compliance policies and processes to prevent, detect and mitigate the risk of bribery and corruption.
ACAMS Netherlands Chapter: Evolution in AML Through Connections
Evelyn Bell, Alexander Verhoeven and Yuri Broodman were active board members of the ACAMS Netherlands Chapter in 2022. They met after an ACAMS Netherlands Chapter event and reflected on their compliance careers as well as their involvement with ACAMS. Since April 2023, Broodman moved to the Luxembourg Chapter, while Bell and Verhoeven are now both co-chairs of the ACAMS Netherlands Chapter Board.
ACAMS Germany Chapter: 2022 In Review
In 2022, the ACAMS Germany Chapter hosted four online and two live events on a range of topics, including regulatory developments and new approaches to mitigating financial crime more effectively using an intelligence-led approach.
ACAMS Eurasia Chapter: Hosting the Inaugural AFC & Sanctions Forum
The inaugural AFC & Sanctions Forum in the Eurasia region took place on June 22, 2023, in Tbilisi, Georgia, organized by the ACAMS Eurasia Chapter in partnership with LexisNexis Risk Solutions Financial Services, Collections and Businesses.
Building a Platform for Talent: Developing Professional Capabilities
The ACAMS Macau Chapter has had a lot of accomplishments over the past six years since its inception. More than 700 members have joined the ACAMS Macau Chapter from local banks, insurance companies, large gaming operators, resorts and hotels, the legal profession, consulting companies, institutions for higher education and more, across all industries.
Melissa Harway: The Show Must Go On
Melissa Harway is a manager of Event Logistics at ACAMS. She joined ACAMS in 2019 when she accepted a position to work on events held in the Americas. Since joining the ACAMS staff, Harway’s role has expanded to include project managing assigned conferences, which gives her the opportunity to work with marketing, sales and the product team to ensure that all requests and deadlines are met.
Mohamed Abouzied, CAMS, CFE, CGSS, CAFCA—Dubai, UAE
Meet Mohamed Abouzied, an accomplished anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) compliance expert with an extensive track record spanning over 15 years in the field with multinational corporations. His profound expertise and unwavering commitment make him an invaluable asset in the fight against financial crimes, cementing his position as a trailblazer in the AML/CTF compliance arena.
Mavis Bennett, CAMS, CFE—New York, USA
Mavis Bennett is a compliance professional with 15 years of experience working within various aspects of an anti-money laundering/Bank Secrecy Act program. Currently, Bennett is an assistant vice president transaction monitoring manager with Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB) in New York City. As CFSB is a retail bank, it also provides payment settlement services and serves as a prepaid card issuer to various types of fintech companies that operate in the payments industry.
Megan Jeffries, CAMS—Utah, USA
Megan Jeffries most recently worked at Zions Bancorporation in both the quality assurance and enhanced due diligence functions. She previously served as the board-appointed vice president, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) officer and deposit compliance officer for Congressional Bank. Jeffries started her banking career at the Bank of Georgetown in human resources, made a brief stop in accounting and finally landed in compliance—she has never looked back.
Better Investigations Through the Five Whys Method
Customer due diligence (CDD) is a compilation of various requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act like know your customer processes, identification and verification of the identities of beneficial owners for certain legal entities, understanding the purpose of accounts, risk rating at account opening and periodically thereafter and transactional monitoring.
Casinos: Responding to New and Evolving Money Laundering Risks
Throughout history, people have engaged in games of chance for entertainment or financial gain. Games of chance are, at their core, based on mathematics and probability. A roll of the dice or spin of the wheel, in conjunction with a set of rules...
Financial Information Sharing Partnership in Mexico
Cross-border trade is growing across North America. U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico reached a record $1.78 trillion last year. Mexico emerged as the top trade partner for the U.S. this year, with trade totaling $263 billion between the two countries during the first quarter of 2023 alone.
How Trustworthy AI Can Help With Accountability in AML
The abundance of data provides an incredible opportunity and a significant risk for banks. Efficient and effective use of data is critical to combat fraud and financial crimes, manage credit as well as regulatory risk, enhance customer experience, generate sufficient capital and address other issues banks face.