BSA for Tellers: The Why

Money laundering is a complex crime and is designed to hide the source of illegally obtained funds and make them seem legitimate. There are far-reaching consequences in that money laundering can be used to support terrorism, drug trafficking, human smuggling and other types of crime. Financial institutions are in a unique position to help detect and prevent such activity and that is why the government mandates that a financial institution has a BSA/AML program. This usually includes having policies, procedures, and other controls that ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs), Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), Monetary Instrument Logs, Customer Identification Procedures and identifying Beneficial Owners are just a few of the tools tellers and customer service representatives may use to aid in this process.

Kevin explains more in the video.

Video Highlights:

• Money launderers come up with many creative ways to get money into the banking system.
• BSA/AML programs are designed to detect unusual transactions and/or red flags of suspicious activity.
• Training is a required component of a financial institution’s BSA/AML program and should be tailored to an employee’s specific duties.

Published
2024/02/15