Thread Options
|
#626896 - 10/20/06 11:44 AM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
10K Club
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 21,939
Next to Harvey
|
You are not required to check anyone against the OFAC list. The process is "risk based;" i.e. your bank must document an OFAC risk assessment then exercise its own judgment as to your OFAC risk in connection with individual transactions. Your bank decides when it is prudent to check the list as a precaution. Your question is included in this poll so if you answer it you will see how others responded.
_________________________
In this world you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626898 - 10/20/06 02:16 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Diamond Poster
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,323
"...Somewhere in Middle Americ...
|
We were just knocking this topic around at a meeting yesterday and our BSA officer brought up a good point.
We OFAC the remitter but not the payee. If we OFAC the payee, how do we have enough information on "John Q Payee" to know if it's a hit or not.
I think our risk is higher when we have a non-customer standing in the teller line with an on-us check to cash.....and we're going to ID him. At least we'd get an address, etc.
How are banks easing the OFAC process without info on the payee?
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626900 - 10/20/06 02:50 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Diamond Poster
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,323
"...Somewhere in Middle Americ...
|
Guidance is good!
But how are you ID-ing or getting the address of the person. They aren't there. You just have Mary Jones standing at your teller window wanting a check for john Smith. We OFAC Mary and she's OK, so we debit her account and get her a cashier's check. But there is no more info for John other than his name. Are you asking Mary for his address? If you get a possible hit, are you holding the check while she finds out his birthdate?
Can you tell we had a fun meeting?!?!?!?!
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626902 - 10/20/06 03:08 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
10K Club
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 13,965
TN
|
OK - in your scenario ACBbank, would you hold the $$ that Mary Jones had presented? (I'm just curious - not questioning your tactics)
_________________________
My Opinions Only
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626903 - 10/20/06 03:29 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Diamond Poster
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,323
"...Somewhere in Middle Americ...
|
Me too, ACB, I am thinking that we would hold the funds until we had determined if the hit was legit for her "John Smith."
Hmm.....
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626905 - 10/20/06 07:56 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Gold Star
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 284
California
|
I really hate this topic, I have been fighting it for a year now. Auditors love to say, 'you should be checking payees'. We service areas with a very high hispanic population. We check OFAC on all new accounts and get a high amount of potential 'hits' which we are able to resolve since the customer is there. If we did as ABC states and checked payees,we would be holding a high number of cashiers checks as ransom while our poor customers tried to get information to prove their Juan Rodriquez was not the Columbian drug lord on the list. Not to mention reporting all of this to OFAC.
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626906 - 10/20/06 08:36 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Power Poster
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,351
New York City
|
My personal opinion has nothing to do with the protocol of my FI. Neither does the racial make of my surrounding community. I am charged with protecting the Bank's interests. Whether or not my policy/procedure would work in your FI, BSA would be your or managements call. I leave you with these following questions though:
1. Are you checking Payees on any MI?
2. If not, how will you explain to the Dept. of Treasury if one of them is on the OFAC list? 3. If you are, I would like to hear how you handling an OFAC hit for a payee on a MI?
_________________________
"100 victories in 100 battles isnt the most skillful. Subduing the other's military w/o battle is the most skillful." Sun-Tzu
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626908 - 10/23/06 03:46 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Power Poster
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,029
Sweet Home AL
|
We verify payees on our official checks and have had only one one possible match situation. We informed our customer we had a potential match to a government list. We assured her that we felt certain it was not a true match and requested additional information concerning the transaction and individual involved. She was able to provide sufficient information to us to enable us to make a reasonable determination that the payee was not a valid match.
Had she been unable to provide us with sufficient information to make our determination, we would have declined the transaction until additional information could be provided. Since an official check represents a direct payment by the bank, I feel verification of payees to OFAC is a prudent step to take to protect the bank.
We sell official checks only to established customers; therefore, OFAC verification is not necessary for most sales. It is necessary when we allow an on-us check to be "swapped" for an official check by a non-customer payee (not recommended by BOL gurus, I know, but we do it).
_________________________
Life without Jesus is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point.
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
#626911 - 10/24/06 08:55 PM
Re: Cashier's check payable to a non customer
|
Diamond Poster
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,323
"...Somewhere in Middle Americ...
|
Brenda: I know I will hate myself for asking.....but why wouldn't we want to swap? I posted the question in "deposits and payments" as I thought I might be missing a risk.
|
Return to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|