Financial institutions do not operate in a vacuum. In order to succeed they must transact their affairs with a wide variety of individuals and businesses worldwide. Organizations that engage in international transactions, without confirming the bona fides of their clients, are in great danger of becoming the unwitting accomplices of money launderers. The extraterritorial enforcement of money laundering laws by nations such as the United States, can have a devastating effect on financial institutions and governments. Effective legislation by governments, combined with strong, independently tested compliance programs at all financial institutions are essential if a nation is to avoid the negative economic and social impact of perceived complicity in international money laundering.

In order to effectively protect oneself from liability, it is not enough to simply have compliance rules in force. An institution must be able to demonstrate that, in addition to establishing the appropriate measures to detect and prevent money laundering, it has provided regular training to employees at all levels. Organizations must also be prepared to demonstrate that they have engaged independent professionals to assess and test these measures and provide a comprehensive report of the results, identifying any deficiencies to be corrected.

At chrismathers inc., our Money Laundering Compliance Reviews address the four major components that organizations must consider when establishing a compliance program.

(1) Compliance regulations

Our team of professionals, with extensive experience in banking, law enforcement and accounting can design a compliance program that will assist organizations in indemnifying themselves against potential civil actions and criminal indictment from governments that strictly enforce money laundering laws. The program starts with the basic tenets of compliance such as:

• Customer identification programs
• Identification and reporting of suspicious transactions
• Potential for reconstruction of individual transactions
• Ability to make bank documents available to competent domestic authorities
• Maintenance of transaction records
• Appropriate screening procedures when hiring employees

This program is created within a framework designed specifically for both the nation in which an organization is situated as well as the nations where it does business.

(2) Designation of Compliance Officers

In the event that qualified candidates can not be found within your organization, chrismathers inc. can identify and/or supply a short list of qualified candidates able to assume the compliance role.

(3) Training

The implementation of new or modified legislation creates an immediate need for training of government and bank employees, bank regulators and law enforcement officers. chrismathers inc. can design and implement basic and advanced training courses that will ensure that those regulating and enforcing the legislation are able to perform their duties with efficiency and professionalism. Specialized training is available for individuals involved in the investigation of money laundering, fraud or drug offences.

chrismathers inc. designs training programs for bank personnel, compliance officers, government regulatory personnel and law enforcement officers (For specific information on Anti-Money Laundering training, please click here).

(4) Independent testing

The most important part of any compliance regulations is whether or not they will withstand the scrutiny of an independent testing procedure. chrismathers inc. makes use of both traditional and non-traditional methods to test a client's compliance regulations. Unless requested by the client, individual employees are not identified in the testing report. The purpose of the review is to establish the overall level of knowledge of staff and the institution's overall adherence to compliance rules, not to randomly test the virtue of individual employees. A compliance review may consist of the following components:

(a) Analysis of value bearing transactions
(b) Analysis of existing administrative procedures
(c) Interviewing bank employees
(d) Liaison with law enforcement
(e) Interviews with government regulators
(f) Interviews with senior management and compliance officers
(g) Undercover approaches to identify deficiencies in money laundering procedures and policies

chrismathers inc. will supply clients with a complete report of the compliance procedures and the independent testing that has been conducted identifying deficiencies and recommending the required remedial action. Independent testing, audit and review of compliance to money laundering regulations is a major step in ensuring that an organization institution avoids becoming the unwitting accomplice of money launderers due to employee misconduct or error. Armed with the chrismathers inc. report, companies will be able to demonstrate that they have exercised due diligence and care in the establishment, maintenance, testing and training required for an appropriate anti-money laundering compliance program.

In addition, all engagements can include a provision for periodic testing of procedures in order to ensure that banking institutions are made aware of changes in legislation internationally as well as new techniques being employed by money launderers.