The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) held its inaugural ACAMS Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference—Caribbean on December 9-11, 2019, in Miami, Florida. ACAMS members from all over the Caribbean region and beyond gathered for two days of learning and networking. During the sessions, attendees answered poll questions on a variety of anti-financial crime topics both pertaining to the Caribbean and in general. A sampling of poll results can be read below.
Monday: PEPs Spotlight: Practical Protocols for Strengthening Anti-Bribery and Corruption Oversight
Following a keynote address and Q&A with Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Executive Director Dawne Spicer, the first session of the conference discussed methods for tackling bribery and corruption, including politically exposed persons (PEPs). Approximately half of the poll respondents agreed that corruption in the Caribbean region is the same as other regions in the world.
Monday: Building Next Generation Risk Models for Caribbean-Based Institutions
A later session that day covered technology for enhancing risk management systems including data analytics and artificial intelligence. Of the polls answered by attendees, over half of the respondents agreed that operational risk management was the line of defense that could be strengthened within their firm.
Tuesday: Hot Topics: Analyzing the Latest Compliance Trends Affect Caribbean Institutions
Following a special presentation on human trafficking was the hot topics session. The hot topics session is always popular at any ACAMS conference. Topics examined included cryptocurrency, marijuana-related businesses, cybercrime and more. Of the numerous polls on those topics, it was interesting to note that approximately half of poll respondents do not want cryptocurrency exchanges as clients at their financial institution.
Tuesday: Obtaining and Maintaining Correspondent Banking Relationships
For one of the final sessions of the conference, attendees gathered to learn about correspondent banking. The majority of poll respondents agreed to be feeling an increased pressure from their correspondent bank and to feeling overwhelmed by requests for information (RFIs) from their correspondent bank.
The ACAMS Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference—Caribbean presented the opportunity to get a pulse on anti-financial crime in the Caribbean region. The success of the conference and the variety of poll results illuminate that this is a growing and important region in the anti-financial crime industry.
