Links in “Compliance Tips”

Expect the unexpected and other useful consumer tips from the FDIC's Summer 2014 Consumer News are excerpted here. [9/8/14]

One of the root causes of problems in a financial institution’s Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering programs is a weak culture of compliance. In this video, AffirmX’s Senior Analyst Coppelia Padgett explains what a compliance culture is and what to do if it is lacking at your financial institution, especially in light of FinCEN's recent advisory. [9/5/14]

NCUA will be conducting a webinar entitled "Merger Best Practices” on Wednesday, September 17^th at 2:00 pm EST. A panel of NCUA experts will discuss the characteristics of a credit union heading towards a merger, knowing when to merge, merger structure and negotiations, and how to achieve the maximum benefits for merging the credit union and its staff. [9/3/14]

As mentioned in our last blog post about E-SIGN, AffirmX has received numerous questions about the E-SIGN Act over the past few months. In this post, AffirmX's Senior Analyst Coppelia Padgett turns our attention to similar recurring questions centered around one somewhat simple phrase in the regulation: “reasonably demonstrate.” [9/2/14]

Criminals can use an iPhone attachment to turn their iPhone into an infrared camera to take a picture of the keypad right after it is used, allowing them to see which keys were pressed and in which order, since the first keys pressed will show less heat. Here's a tip for protecting against this threat. [9/2/14]

In the world of residential lending, loan officers frequently trip up when it comes to knowing when they’re dealing with a full-fledged application. Join Alberto Gamez, AffirmX’s Director of Sales and a 22-year mortgage specialist, to learn a simple trick to knowing when you have a complete loan application. [8/29/14]

When JPMorgan, which supposedly is investing $250 million in cyber security this year, was breached by what appears to be Russian hackers, is there anything smaller institutions can do? One thing for certain is to make sure you have a game plan in place for what to do when it happens. Such a plan can help your institution avoid being "litigated into the stone age." [8/29/14]

Or so says one blogger. According to Eric English, CISSP, industry compliance requirements should be treated as a "baseline, not necessarily the best way of responding to a potential problem," especially when it comes to cybersecurity. [8/28/14]

Financial institutions are subject to a myriad of good ideas that range from what the industry calls “best practices” to full-blown regulatory requirements. AffirmX's Jane Pannier describes the proposed changes to customer due diligence that will potentially transition it from guidelines to law. [8/26/14]

Boards of Directors can represent risk to the entity that they govern. This article explores how you can develop a risk assessment of your board’s governing activities. [8/26/14]