Fear Factors into BSA/AML Compliance
Here at Identity Resolution Daily we cover a variety of topics that are of interest to readers in the federal government, retail, insurance and financial services sectors. Our readers come here because the need to resolve identities is critical for retail loss prevention, insurance fraud prevention and risk management. And when it comes to homeland security, identity resolution is a matter of life and death.
Of all the topics covered here, however, nothing brings in more readers than a post on Banking Security Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance. We suspect a number of reasons for the popular appeal of BSA/AML news and analysis. The biggest driver, though, is probably fear. Current banking regulations have ambiguous guidelines and it’s the fear of large fines and bad publicity that creates an unquenchable thirst for information. And because they’re wary of asking the feds for clarification — which only brings unwanted scrutiny — compliance officers turn to the Web and each other for answers.
If you ask Charlie Intriago, the publisher of the Money Laundering Alert, why his subscriber base keeps ticking up at a healthy rate, would he conclude the same thing?
Interestingly, our most popular post by a wide, wide margin is Why Banking Secrecy Act Compliance Officers Drink Maalox, by our financial services director, Glenn Hopkins. Glenn must have his finger on the pulse of the banking regulatory community — either that, or compliance officers really like funny headlines.
Here’s an excerpt from his post:
“If you have a Latin, Muslim or Arabic name and your name is similar to a terrorist, it can cause you inconvenience, perhaps even financial hardship. But the next time you’re having trouble getting through airport security, it might amuse you to know that your name is causing fits among Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance officers all over the world.”
Our second most popular post, American Express Fined $65 Million — Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering STILL Needs Work, pointed out that “no one wants to have the head of the DEA saying something like this about their bank: ‘Today an established and respected financial institution learned a valuable lesson about its legal responsibilities,’ said Karen Tandy, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration.’”
Naturally, this post pulled in a lot of people from American Express. Surprisingly, we saw a lot of employees from competing banks, as well. Must have been some sort of “there but for the grace of God go I”-sort-of-thing.
The Anti-Money Laundering Iconoclast, the third most popular post, was about Mr. Anti-Money Laundering, Charlie Intriago. We said such nice things about him, that we’re sure all that traffic just came from his friends and family.
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