I need some help with monitoring. We currently have no software for any type of BSA/AML monitoring, it's all done manually. Thankfully we aren't that large of an institution and I currently only have about 15 accounts that I monitor daily. Right now, I pull the deposits for those accounts up in imaging and look through the checks that made up each deposit, noting any that look suspicious. Can anyone share an easier/quicker way to monitor these accounts without special software? I can run queries, but it doesn't run against the items that make up the deposit, so I'm not sure how much help that will be. Also, this is something that has to be done each day, right?
Thank you!

I also have no software for monitoring.

I look at three reports each morning (kite suspect report, large transaction report, large overdraft report). Being a small institution, I recognize a lot of the customers on the lists and can explain the various activity... but if anything looks out of the ordinary, I look at the items making up deposits and where checks are being written.
I also review a list of customers that we code as "high risk" and do the same kind of manual monitoring that you mentioned above.

There are all sorts of reports you can probably run, but if you don't have software to recognize unusual activity, it seems like what you're doing manually is the only way to go.

But if someone else monitors manually & does something different, I'd like to know as well.

Before software - do your tellers use a manual log for transactions $3,000 - $10,000 in cash? These were sent to Compliance weekly.

Thanks y'all! I was hoping I wasn't missing something. I do look at all of those reports and the $3,000 - $10,000 cash log as well. Except, the kite suspect report is never accurate. Do you have any luck with that report? All the kiting I have happened upon during monitoring.

Complofcr - No, I've never had luck with the report either. We have discovered kiting when our back office gets notice that checks are being returned from customer's accounts with other banks.
I've also discovered kiting with the large transaction change report.
I have not been able to figure out a way to pull a report that is a true "suspect kite report." I, like you, come across the information through other reports & employees.

A kiting report should be based on credit/debit velocity as the old uncollected funds reports don't work as well any more.

I find most core system basic kiting reports are not that great. At least the ones I have seen or been saddled with.