Posted By: Brandi S.
Writing Letter- Questionable Wires - 04/08/21 01:31 PM
Good morning,
We have a long time commercial customer who runs a cash intensive lucrative business that has always kept business local. Recently, they have begun sending wires to Romania so naturally I questioned the PB who submitted the request as to the purpose. The PB was unsure so she called the business customer and the business customers reply was one of the business owners (not on the account and opened before BO was a thing) is living in Romania and looking to start an additional business in that area, same line of business. As time went on another wire was sent and the purpose given originally had changed a bit and put up a few red flags. Management decided we are going to send the customer a certified letter asking due diligence questions but the part we are stuck on is who should this letter come from? I've always been told it shouldn't come from the BSA Department directly. We are a small community bank so we don't have many departments but we have a wire department, a BSA department, branch managers and a retail banking officer. Our idea currently is to have the letter come from the wire department but one of our managers wants it to come from a specific person. Any thoughts or insight would be super helpful! Thank you.
We have a long time commercial customer who runs a cash intensive lucrative business that has always kept business local. Recently, they have begun sending wires to Romania so naturally I questioned the PB who submitted the request as to the purpose. The PB was unsure so she called the business customer and the business customers reply was one of the business owners (not on the account and opened before BO was a thing) is living in Romania and looking to start an additional business in that area, same line of business. As time went on another wire was sent and the purpose given originally had changed a bit and put up a few red flags. Management decided we are going to send the customer a certified letter asking due diligence questions but the part we are stuck on is who should this letter come from? I've always been told it shouldn't come from the BSA Department directly. We are a small community bank so we don't have many departments but we have a wire department, a BSA department, branch managers and a retail banking officer. Our idea currently is to have the letter come from the wire department but one of our managers wants it to come from a specific person. Any thoughts or insight would be super helpful! Thank you.