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#233882 - 08/18/04 07:13 PM Anti-Money Laundering Conference
Anonymous
Unregistered

I'm considering attending the ABA Anti-Money Laundering Seminar, but I'm wondering if you have found it helpful, or would you recommend another one. If it's just a re-hash of the regulations and the SAR Activity Reviews, I think I would be wasting my time. I can read these things on my own. I'm really looking for real guidance to detect suspicious activity, examples of things to watch for, ways other banks monitor accounts, etc. It seems to me that if our role in detecting money laundering were as important as the examiners want us to believe, then we shouldn't have to struggle so much to know what they expect: scanning BOL for other people complaining about their exams to see what they did wrong, attending seminars that only read the regulations to us, dealing with FinCEN, etc. Why do we have to wait until exams to find out we should have been doing something? Why isn't this type of information disseminated to us? It seems to me that we're not all on the same team. If they know what they expect us to do, why write vague ambiguous text in regulatory handbooks and examination procedures, so that we get hung in the next exam? Maybe I'm making this too simple, but I just feel like anti-money laundering/suspicious activity monitoring is one thing that we can't feel confident that we're doing everything we're supposed to do. Maybe I read too many of the doomsday posts on BOL telling me that our next exam will be a disaster. Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.

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BSA/AML/CIP/OFAC Forum
#233883 - 08/18/04 07:43 PM Re: Anti-Money Laundering Conference
Anonymous
Unregistered

After attending last year, I decided that I would attend every year. I thought it was very beneficial.

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#233884 - 08/18/04 07:48 PM Re: Anti-Money Laundering Conference
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
10K Club
Elwood P. Dowd
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 21,939
Next to Harvey
Well, I can say very comfortably that the ABA/AML conference is not going to meet all of your objectives. However, it will come closer than any currently available alternative. It's the only national program that I always attend; I'm already registered and plan to post daily blogs on BOL.

It gives me a chance to hear nationally known speakers and get their views on recent, current and expected developments. Some are excellent speakers. Some could bore the bark off a tree. Yet, most of them have knowledge and exposure that is simply not available elsewhere and I do not go there to be entertained. I pick my live sessions carefully and purchase recordings of those I wish I could have attended.

BSA exams vary incredibly among banks, even banks with the same regulatory agency. Like you, I resent the "Gotcha" approach. Many BSA officers would put in place any regulatory suggestion made in writing, if they knew it would get them through an exam unscathed. So, why not tell you in advance what they want rather than when they come through the door? There are only two places where an inkling of the unwritten is available, at this conference and on BOL.

All I can say is that the conference gives me the opportunity to listen and talk to the people who guide the examination process. (It also gives me the opportunity to sit through 6 - 10 vendor demos each year with a minimum amount of hassle.) Some years I am more pleased than others. Some years my best knowledge nuggets came from a conversation in the hall or a remark made by a vendor. In any case, I regard it as time well spent.
_________________________
In this world you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.

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#233885 - 08/23/04 09:11 PM Re: Anti-Money Laundering Conference
Anonymous
Unregistered

So can you tell us when and where it is held? Thanks!

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#233886 - 08/23/04 09:19 PM Re: Anti-Money Laundering Conference
Anonymous
Unregistered

Is this the Institute for International Research 14th Annual Anti-Money laundering Audit and Compliance Forum?
Held September 27-30- The Plaza Hotel- New York City.
www.amlac.com
Earn up to 28 CPE/CLE credits

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#233887 - 08/23/04 09:31 PM Re: Anti-Money Laundering Conference
Elwood P. Dowd Offline
10K Club
Elwood P. Dowd
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 21,939
Next to Harvey
October 24-26, Arlington, VA. Here's the agenda.
_________________________
In this world you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.

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