Six steps can take institutions beyond merely good.
What makes for a great anti-money laundering compliance program? This is not a pie-in-the-sky idea. As financial institutions strive to keep up with evolving regulations and a growing number of financial crimes each year, “good enough” is quickly becoming insufficient.
Perpetrators of illicit financing are not giving up or going away. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to money laundering has risen steadily in each of the past five years. In 2019, the number of SARs that depository institutions, money services businesses, casinos and other entities filed was 38% higher than in 2015.
Regulators are holding institutions to evolving higher standards. Sanctions, for example, are an area where requirements frequently change. State, federal and international financial services regulators have high expectations for customer due diligence (CDD) and anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs. For resource-constrained organizations, staying up to date and meeting these requirements can seem like an…
