does anyone have their NBFI/MSB customers sign an "agreement" - ie you wont do this, you will do this, you agree to supply us this... you agree to blah blah blah, and have them sign it?

OK - does anyone not have their custoemrs sign an agreement? I thought there would be some response to this - even if it's "why are you doing that" HELLLLLP

A reasonable interpretation of the silence would be a "No." I'm not certain what the objective of such an agreement would be. A contractual commitment to you would not enhance your customer's responsibility to comply with the law regarding registration, licensure, operating an effective BSA program, etc. It would also not reduce your responsibility for monitoring their activities.

At most, it might imply that they understood their responsibilities, but only as your bank explained them. Personally, I would rather have a record in the file where I mailed them some FinCEN publications where FinCEN explained their responsibilities.

A discussion in our bank, begun by a senior manager, regarding pushing off the liability of MSB monitoring with an "agreement" also lasted about the length of this thread.

Filling filing cabinets was about the only thing it would accomplish.

We wound up with a checklist of our monitoirng responsibilities which is to be completed each year. It is built on the latest monitoring "guidance" points.

I do have them sign a document that lists all the documentary requirements as well as account activity expectations. It does not relieve me of any responsibility in the monitoring function but I beleive that it gives the MSB an understanding of how seriously we take the regulations.