I need to post this anon for reasons you will soon understand. I have been placed in a branch where I have witnessed clearly unethical and borderline illegal activity by the Operations Manager of the branch. He has opened accounts for a customer that has a non-cash business that is taking large amounts of cash on a daily basis. An employee of the company who comes in 4-5 times a day said that the reason that they have mulitiple enties set up, is so that they can avoid taxes. They also bring in checks, payable to a person, that have been blank endorsed and deposit them into another enity's account. When I took my concerns to upper management, they said that he is doing nothing wrong. An example is that half an hour after we closed and all of the teller's drawers were put away, this customer called and said he need $5500 in cash and would be there in 5 minutes. When I looked at his accounts, he had $3000.00 between all of them. The operations officer pulled a counter check and withdrew $5500 from his personal account and when the customer was let in the branch, gave the cash to him. There have also been tales that I didn't witness of this operations officer signing counter checks drawn on this busines and taking cash with them.

Here is my question. Since upper managment (head of operations, CFO, CCO) are unwilling to see the potiental problems that could fall on them, where can I report this? I have another job lined up but I am concerned for the tellers/ new accounts people. They are being put in a position that could destroy their careers. Also the board of directors are in danager of losing major money (we are a bank that is only a few years old with 3 branches) if the regulators discover this. No one seems to understand that turning a blind eye to fraud/money laundering will close your bank.

Any advise of what can be done? I am thinking of calling the regulators so that it can be caught in the early stages but don't want it to look like I am doing it be I don't work there anymore. But there are some great young employees who are being told that it is okay to do these things. I don't want to see their reps trashed because of one person.

Thanks guys

Does your bank not have a "whistle Blower" policy? If it is a small privately held bank you may not, but if you do it would be a direct line of sorts to the Board of Directors. You have not mentioned a BSA Officer, who I would think should be extremely interested in what you have to say as they could be in serious trouble if the regulators start asking questions. By all means I would expedite my exit from this situation and move on if you have another job lined up. It is noble to want to help your co-workers, but sometimes you have to put yourself and your reputation first. Good Luck....

I agree completely with Thomasj- you need to remove yourself from this sinking ship. Many a bank will be more than happy to have someone as astute and alert as you on their team.

As far as who to tell- If the BSA Officer is not one of the persons you already mentioned, that is a good start. If that isn't a practical solution, talk to anyone who willl listen. Internal Auditor, Regulators, Directors. You have correctly assessed the seriousness of the situation, and even though you have other employment lined up, it is in our industry's best interest to ensure that the ops manager doesn't- in any bank- ever.

You may want to consider reporting it to the Auditor also.

If your BSA Officer is not an alternative, I would recommend filing a SAR regarding this internal activity. Keep a log or diary (at home) as long as you are there and recommend it to anyone who is staying.

Hello again,

I have left the bank. I had no one internal that I could turn to with this information. The BSA officer was the head of operations. Since the bank is so small, most of the upper management hold many jobs. For example, we only use auditors from the outside and if the CFO doesn't like what they say, he withholds payment. (can you believe that, you hire they to see what needs improvement and then force them to change the report if too many things are mentioned.) I have turned over my notes and copies to the regualtors.

Turning notes and information over to regulators IMO was the best thing to do. Don't be suprised if they do not act very quickly. Regulators now know you are one of the good guys, and some day you may get a call to give a deposition about what you experienced. So keep copies of the notes, log the dates and who you spoke with.

Then just file things away and move on. Be very careful who you speak with about it. You never know who may be may be buddies with the old crew.

Anonymous for a reason:

Congratulations on your excellent judgement, your savvy -- and your escape! You've reaffirmed that things like this can happen anywhere. You've also provided an excellent training vehicle for your peers. I hope that those same peers will print off a copy of this thread and forward it on to their respective Boards of Directors . . .