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 award-winning 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.
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...
Since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009, cryptocurrency has driven new markets, spurred advancements in financial infrastructure and driven innovative thinking in how to meet the world’s economic needs. However, many stakeholders, including regulators, compliance professionals and law enforcement, still do not understand cryptocurrency or its anti-money...
The pervading myth that notorious gangster Alphonse Gabriel Capone aka “Al Capone” and sometimes nicknamed “Scarface,” invented money laundering in the 1920s has become an important part of the lore surrounding the mob lord. Major online news outlets such as BBC and Medium associate money...
