Has anyone heard of, or had experience with, a company called the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists out of Miami? They are advertising a certification program to obtain a credential as a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

Very well known. This is fast becoming the standard for AML staff and regulators are starting to ask about it. The company is connected to the Money Laundering Alert newsletter.

We are requiring our BSA/AML staff to become certified and are requiring it of any outside auditor we would use to audit BSA.

I have been a member since inception and have found the training and networking to be excellent. The training is not the type you want to seek out for your newest BSA staff member in my opinion. It does not deal with the day-to-day operational issues that need to be mastered. It is more appropriate for BSA/AML officers with some experience who are ready to understand more of the "big picture"--the international aspects of money laundering and the political factors that often drive the AML legislative process.

I have not had time to study to become certified yet due to back to back mergers and acquisitions, but I hope to try later this year or next year. I have seen a number of our regulators there, many of whom have obtained their certification. I believe it will become an industry standard for AML certification.

I have been a member since its inception also, and was certified over a year ago. Good organization.

Just sat for the exam in New York on April 9th.

In my own bank, the AML Office *strongly suggests* certification. In the last few months, I've seen a shift toward requiring it.

If there's interest, I'll share the reading list I cobbled together to prepare for the exam. I took advantage of a cruise we took over Christmas to get through the bulk of the reading. The joke in my household was that I was flying into Miami, connecting for a flight to South America, with a carry-on bag full of books and papers on money-laundering. Where could it possibly go wrong?

I'd like to see your reading list. Thanks.

I'd like to see your reading list as well. john.olander@f-mtrust.com. I recently have printed the material from their website to review. very interesting.

What address is their web site?

Thank you

Thanks for all your feedback!

1.The ACAMs Exam Study guide itself. (pretty good, but desparately in need of editing.)

2. All the FATF typology reports
3. The FATF 40 Recommendations 2003 update
4. The FATF Special Wire Transfer Recommendations
5. The FATF Special Terrorist Financing
6. FATF Combatting the Abuse of Alternative Remittance Systems.
7. Wolfsberg AML Guidelines for Private Banking
8. Wolfsberg AML Principles for Correspondent Banking
9. Wolfsberg Statement on suppressing terrorist financing
10. Wolfsberg Statement on Monitoring, Screening and Searching
11. BIS on Shell Banks
12. BIS on KYC
13. SAR Review #6
14. SAR Review #7
15. BSA Comptroller's Handbook (17 - 39)
16. "Trade Finance Risk:Documentary Fraud and Money Laundering" by Howard Palmer
17. "Dirty Dealing" by Peter Lilley(I liked the DIY to creating an offshore presence....)
18. "Art and Science of Laundering Money" by Brett Woods
19. "Chasing Dirty Money:Progress on Anti-Money Laundering" by Peter Reuter and Edwin Truman
20."The Laundrymen" by Jeffrey Robinson

Important Notes:
1. A manager in our FIU asked for my list, and after reading it suggested that I was over-preparing. He said "You could teach the course, but you think you're still studying for it."
2. Don't bother with the Brett Woods book. Half of it is the original presentation of 40 recommendations, the rest is out-of-date.
3. The Trade Finance book is not at all needed for the exam. It's just a really neat book.
4. Much of the material repeats (FATF, Wolfsberg, BIS), but I thought it was just a way to wire the concepts in.
5. "The Laundrymen" is really a prose telling of big money-laundering scandals and cases.
6. I use news.google.com as a news feed, and customized it to present me with 5 stories on money laundering from anywhere in the world every day. (I did that for my job, but I think the constant exposure to cases and stories also helped in the exam.)


Hope this helps, ask any questions you want....

I would love to see your reading list. I just had an Audit exit meeting this morning and they mentioned becoming certified with CAMs and then here it is. Thank you in advance.

Exam results in...I passed!