 | About Jim Richards Senior Strategic Advisor, Verafin; Founder and Principal, RegTech Consulting LLC; Former Executive Vice-President and Director of Financial Crimes Risk Management, Wells Fargo |
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BlogAML Act of 2020 Formalizes Risk-Based Approach for ComplianceJuly 28, 2021 by Jim Richards The fifth instalment in Jim Richards’ Renewing the BSA Series. Under the current law, 31 USC Section 5318(h) and it’s subsequent regulations, financial institutions are required to have an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program, but there has never been a requirement... |
BlogA Mandate for Innovation in the AML Act of 2020May 28, 2021 by Jim Richards The fourth instalment in Jim Richards’ Renewing the BSA Series. Innovation is a key theme throughout the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA or the Act). As financial crimes evolve and regulatory compliance commitments advance, financial institutions need innovative solutions... |
BlogInformation Sharing Prioritized in AML Act of 2020March 4, 2021 by Jim Richards The third instalment in Jim Richards’ Renewing the BSA Series. Many professionals are touting the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA) as the biggest change to American efforts to fight crime and corruption since the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001... |
BlogAML Act of 2020 Progresses SAR RegimeFebruary 19, 2021 by Jim Richards The second instalment in Jim Richards’ Renewing the BSA Series. On January 1, 2021 the United States Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and with it, the most significant legislation addressing the U.S. Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the... |
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BlogA Brief Introduction to the AML Act of 2020February 12, 2021 by Jim Richards The first instalment in Jim Richards’ Renewing the BSA Series. The landscape of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) is changing. The latter half of 2020 saw repeated calls to examine and modernize Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of... |
BlogDefining Moments in the War on Financial CrimesJune 30, 2020 by Jim Richards Fifty years ago, the law we now call the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) was passed, and the war on financial crimes truly began. The BSA began with the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970. In the years that followed,... |
BlogAnalysis & Commentary: FinCEN’s Proposed Burden Estimate for Preparing and Filing SARsMay 29, 2020 by Jim Richards On May 26, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published a Notice in the Federal Register titled “Proposed Updated Burden Estimate for Reporting Suspicious Transactions Using FinCEN Report 111 – Suspicious Activity Report.” This Notice is required under the... |
BlogDeconstructing the Currency Transaction ReportFebruary 18, 2020 by Jim Richards With FinCEN reporting increases in BSA report filings year over year, it is likely that over 16 million Currency Transaction Reports, or CTRs, were filed in 2019, each one reporting one or more cash transactions made by or on behalf... |
BlogThe Bank Secrecy Act Doesn’t Really ExistJanuary 15, 2020 by Jim Richards Happy New Year! Happy New Decade! But most importantly, Happy 50th Anniversary of the Bank Secrecy Act! Yes, the (so-called) Bank Secrecy Act was passed fifty years ago this October. As every BSA/AML professional knows, the Bank Secrecy Act was first made... |
BlogActionable Intelligence: The Way Forward for the BSANovember 7, 2018 by Jim Richards From its birth on October 26, 1970 as the Foreign Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, through make-overs in 1986 (criminalizing money laundering and structuring), 1990 (establishing FinCEN), 1992 (introducing Suspicious Activity Reports), and 2001 (the biggest make-over with the USA... |
