Anti-financial crime (AFC) professionals have a wealth of knowledge—but as with all trades, they do not start off that way. So where can professionals who are either new or transitioning into the industry learn introductory AFC concepts? With the Back to the Basics column, ACAMS Today will cover topics such as how to write a suspicious activity report, Bank Secrecy Act policy do’s and don’ts, why cryptocurrency matters in AML and more, all compiled in one place.
Our regular contributor is Chris Bagnall, who has spent his anti-financial crimes career taking complex problems and dissecting them into easy-to-understand formats. If you would like to contribute to this column or have any topics you would like to suggest, email editor@acams.org.
The term financial technology (fintech) is many times used interchangeably when referring to regulatory technology (regtech) and supervisory technology (suptech). However, these technological solutions should not be lumped together. Let us unpack the distinct differences. What is Fintech? Fintech includes the provision of financial services...
Editor’s note: This article is the second part of a two-part series on human trafficking and terrorist organizations. The first part is available on ACAMSToday.org. Human trafficking (HT) is used by terrorist organizations to exploit individuals and to carry out or support terrorist activities. In...
Editor’s note: This article is the first part of a two-part series on human trafficking and terrorist organizations. Human trafficking (HT) constitutes a serious human rights violation and is one of the most profitable criminal enterprises, attracting both small local groups and international networks. In...
Editor’s note: This article is the first part of a three-part series on child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and child sex trafficking (CST). ***Disclaimer/trigger warning: This article discusses sexual offenses committed against children. Reader discretion is advised. "Child pornography” is a term that many of...
Many U.S. financial institutions (FIs)1 are subject to the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, better known as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). These FIs are required to incorporate policies, procedures and internal controls reasonably designed to assure compliance with the BSA and...
This article is the third of a three-part series on human trafficking. The first article of this three-part series, “Understanding Human Trafficking,”1 covered the definitions and terminology associated with human trafficking (HT), including the U.S. federal definition of labor trafficking. Although sex trafficking is more...
This article is the second of a three-part series on human trafficking. As we learned in the article Understanding Human Trafficking, in the U.S., sex trafficking is defined as follows: Figure 1: Section 7102 (11) (A) of Title 22 U.S. Code “The recruitment, harboring, transportation,...
This article is the first part of a three-part series on human trafficking. Anti-financial crimes (AFC) professionals are uniquely positioned to identify human trafficking operations through their financial footprints. AFC professionals can support criminal cases to mitigate the burden placed on victims and they can...
From 1986 to 1996, U.S. financial institutions (FIs)1 subject to the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, better known as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), were required to file a Criminal Referral Form (CRF). Where and when applicable, depending on the requirements during...
Passage of the USA PATRIOT Act1 ushered in several new regulatory requirements, one of which focused on customer identification and verification that many had advocated for years to become law. Section 3262 requires implementation of a customer identification program (CIP) for certain financial institutions (FIs).3...
