Question: How has the economic crisis affected account openings in the United States?
Answer:
Although the US economy is plagued by growing household debt and falling savings rates, as of late 2008, households have been focusing on reducing their debt and increasing their savings. With the increasing fear of job loss, further debt and other economic problems, more and more people are placing their incomes into savings accounts. This has led to a dramatic increase in savings and other related account openings.
As the rate of account openings increases and more people are depending on banks to protect their hard earned assets, banks must be sure to update and implement effective Customer Identification Programs (CIP) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) measures. These programs are used to correctly and effectively identify and verify new customers upon account opening, in order to protect the bank and the bank's customers from various risks, such as fraud, loss or money laundering.
When opening an account, banks must collect the following customer information:
Name.
Date of birth.
Residential or business address.
Taxpayer identification number or Social Security Number (SSN).
Passport number or other such non-US citizen document.
It is important for banks to implement comprehensive training for all employees on the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), CIP and CDD and all other measures related to account opening and proper customer identification procedures.
The Edcomm Group
The Edcomm Group Banker's Academy is a 23-year-old multimedia training company, recognized by USA TODAY as the training provider of choice for the banking industry. The Edcomm Group Banker's Academy offers programs such as Compliance, Teller, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Anti Money Laundering (AML), Basel II, EEO, Sexual Harassment, Elder Financial Abuse, Credit Risk Management, Fraud Prevention, Mortgage Fraud Prevention, Security, Ethics, Collections, Foreclosures, OSHA, Lending, Sales & Service, System Simulations, System Conversions, Leadership, Operations Management, and individual job training and career development through http://www.jobtraining.bankersacademy.com. To learn more, please contact Dr. Linda Eagle, President of The Edcomm Group Banker's Academy, at +1.212.631.9400 or linda.eagle@edcomm.com, and visit us on the web at http://www.bankersacademy.com.
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