The release of the long anticipated Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual for Money Services Businesses has left many regulators, money services businesses and banks struggling to understand what it means for them. Here are some insights into implementing the manual.
The U.S. Treasury Department released a long awaited regulatory exam manual for money services businesses, check cashers and money transmitters Tuesday.
The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said in June 2007 that it was working with Internal Revenue Service and state regulators to produce an anti-money laundering exam manual for MSBs.
The manual, issued by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, will include language from a FinCEN ruling on due diligence for certain correspondent accounts for foreign banks, according to people familiar with the matter.
Carol Van Cleef, an attorney with Bryan Cave LLP in Washington D.C. and an expert on money laundering issues, offers an assessment of the revised BSA/AML examination manual and explained how it can aid bank compliance officers in ferreting out suspicious account activity.