Links in “BSA/AML”

NCUA has issued a cease and desist order to the Board of New Bethel FCU in Portsmouth, VA, that addresses poor accounting practices and internal controls, as well as violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. In a separate action, NCUA has issued a charter for Lutheran FCU, which will serve the employees, active members, and volunteers of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. This represents the third new federal credit union chartered in 2014. [12/24/14]

It’s been nearly half a decade since the FFIEC and FinCEN have released a new update of the BSA/AML Examination Manual. In this video, AffirmX’s senior analyst, Coppelia Padgett, provides an overview of critical changes. [12/19/14]

In what is being perceived as an unprecedented move, FinCEN is seeking to hold a compliance officer personally responsible to the tune of $1 million for the anti-money laundering failures of his employer. FinCEN alleges MoneyGram's compliance officer allowed criminals to defraud consumers and launder the proceeds. [12/19/14]

Have you ever built something from scratch? With no plans, nothing? AdvisX's Ken Agle has. In this article, he describes why arbitrarily creating and/or implementing untested AML rule parameters could cheat your institution out of a beautifully manageable BSA/AML reporting system. [12/9/14]

Speaking on the OCC's overall approach to examinations, BSA/AML, and cybersecurity, the Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry encouraged all financial institutions to join the Financial Services Information Security and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC). The FS-ISAC is a public-private sector partnership that provides access to information regarding data security. [12/4/14]

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has issued an updated version of its BSA/AML Examination Manual that clarifies regulator expectations and incorporates regulatory revisions that have occurred since the last update in 2010. [12/3/14]

The long-awaited day has arrived! The FFIEC has released the revised BSA/AML Examination Manual. Among the revisions are new CTR and SAR E-Filing requirements, guidance on the extension of SAR filing for continuing activity, and guidance related to currency transaction aggregation for businesses and exemptions. The online manual is available here. [12/3/14]

FinCEN has assessed a civil money penalty of $300,000 against North Dade Community Development Federal Credit Union for serious violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Among the offenses were admittedly willful violations of section 314(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act and record retention requirements, and significant deficiencies in general BSA program requirements. [11/26/14]

Wildfire Credit Union, a $677 million asset credit union in Saginaw, MI, has sued Fiserv for fraud due to its extreme dissatisfaction with the DNA core system it purchased. Wildfire was wooed away from Symitar just one year ago, but now says it wants all monies it paid to Fiserv returned. [11/19/14]

Heat from examiners is pressuring banks to sever ties with high-risk businesses while at the same time, top officials at the agencies are urging banks to not turn vulnerable consumers from much-needed access to mainstream banking. [11/18/14]