On Page 30 of the FFIEC's Examination Manual one of the internal controls examiners are to look for is BSA complinace incorporated into "job descriptions and performance evaluations of appropraite personnel." Has there been any more guidance issued on this? Who is "appropriate personnel"?

When the state examiners were here and looking at BSA, they asked for a copy of the BSA officer's job description and also wanted to know what training courses he attended regarding AML/BSA/CIP, etc.

EVERY job description should allude to adhereing to the BSA.

The OCC asked to see a sampling of job descriptions to ensure BSA was in them. So did our external auditors.

We were also asked to include adhereing to the BSA in the employee evaluation form since it was nto already included there.

That is sort of my point, the word "approriate" threw me. I was also wondering if there was specific language based on job function, or just a general statement that everyone had to do BSA compliance!

I always have to laugh when I see institutions that have dealt with this by sticking a one-liner in most job descriptions to the effect of "Will comply with all requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act."

To me, that's kind of like the standard regulatory response these days when you ask any BSA question...."Well, you need to assess your risks and then form risk-based procedures to mitigate those risks."

Uh-huh.

Meaningless drivel if you ask me, so sticking a generic "will comply with BSA" seems like a text-band-aid that does nothing better than occupy a check box somewhere on a list.

The real pain should be a well thought out process of how each job INTERACTS with BSA. For instance, you wouldn't have a loan officer responsible for filing out a CTR, and you wouldn't have a teller responsible for finding out the source of funds for the down payment on a property. But both activities are designed to "comply with BSA."

To me, putting BSA in the job description should be a hand-in-hand project with figuring out job specific training. Your loan officer needs to know CIP and understand the due diligence required for lending transactions, and also know that he or she is responsible for that. Your teller needs to know how to fill out a CTR and spot potential structuring, and know that he or she is responsible for doing so. Your new accounts person needs to know CIP and understand due diligence at account opening, your wire department needs to know about OFAC, and so on.

This is a royal pain to go through the first time, but honestly, how effective is your BSA program unless every employee understands what it is they need to do, and knows exactly what they are responsible to do?

That is exactly why I posted this. There should be some guidance, after all Tellers are Tellers and Commercial Loan Officers are Commercial Loan Officers. I do not think a job description should include some disertation on BSA compliance, after all they also need to be held acountable for Fair Lending and Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices...in fact all of them. And I certainly do not think that we want job description to read like a compliance manual.

Well - if it was any other regulation right now, I would agree with you. The problem is the number of systemic failures for BSA/AML in many institutions, and the growing impatience by the regulatory agencies about seeing a company-wide BSA Compliance culture.

I don't think that you have to have a disertation in each job description, but simply a statement of the areas that the person is expected to cover, along with a CYA blanket-description.

Example:
Teller - Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act, OFAC and USA PATRIOT Act including accurate completion of CTR, Monetary Instrument log, and reporting of suspicious activites to supervisor.

New Accounts - Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act, OFAC and USA PATRIOT Act including Customer Identification Program for new customers, accurate completion of new account activity profile, identifying high risk accounts at account opening, and reporting suspicious activities to supervisor.

Operations Manager - Compliance with the Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act, OFAC and USA PATRIOT Act including accurate completion of CTR and Monetary Instrument Log, Customer Identification Program, customer due diligence, identifying high risk accounts, reporting suspicious activities to BSA Department.

Loan Officer - Compliance with the Compliance with Bank Secrecy Act, OFAC and USA PATRIOT Act including Customer Identification Program, customer due diligence, identifying high risk accounts, reporting suspicious activities to Supervisor or BSA Department.

....and so on. Obviously, each institution will need to customize the job responsibilities according to how those resonsibilities are parsed out. In some institutions, tellers do not complete CTRs, they input transaction information into the teller system, and CTR's are completed by a Central Ops department or BSA dept.

The job descriptions should dovetail nicely into your customized training program - or vice versa. At some point in time, an institution needs to sort out who is supposed to do what when it comes to BSA, and then communicate that information and make sure everyone receives adequate training to do what they are supposed to do.