2013 Conference in Review

This year, more than 1,300 government officials and financial industry decision makers joined us in Hollywood, FL, for the ACAMS moneylaundering.com 18th Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference from March 18-20.
We want to thank all who attended, including our esteemed speakers, generous sponsors, and exhibitors – all of whom collaborated to make this year's event the preeminent conference in the AML and financial crime community.

Monday | Competition, Cooperation, and Increased Scrutiny
Adam Szubin, Director of OFAC, opened the conference with a keynote address on Iran's use of securities accounts in order to evade US sanctions. He express that the tension between regulators and compliance professionals over whether risk-based compliance has lost its effectiveness is evident, and the most pressing challenge now is how financial institutions can actually prevent financial crime in the current regulatory environment.  Following Szubin's speech and an engaging audience Q&A, three compliance chiefs from American Express, Barclays Wealth & Investment Management and Citigroup, plus two senior representatives from the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), discussed, in frank terms, cooperation, their shared vision, and their differences.
That same morning, Dennis P. Wood, Assistant Director of Sanctions Compliance and Evaluation at the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), US Department of the Treasury, revealed that the bureau would be more aggressive in bringing actions against individuals at financial institutions that it found had sanctions violations.  It will also be more involved in writing the standards for bank examiners through its participation in the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Tuesday | FinCEN's Predictive Analytics and ACAMS Honors
On Tuesday, FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery discussed The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) plans to launch predictive analytics software to help proactively identify financial crime.  The ultimate goal, explained Calvery, is to leverage BSA information and other data to bridge the gap between regulators and law enforcement.  Ms. Calvery explained how the software would be an integral piece of a larger overview of the goals of the US Treasury Bureau.

"Very soon, we will be able to point law enforcement and other stakeholders precisely to where they should be looking. Our analysts, working hand-in-hand with our superb technology team, are now putting these new capacities into place."

Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Director, FinCEN

At the annual awards ceremony, ACAMS recognized recipients from both the public and private sectors for their exceptional roles in combating financial crimes.  This year's awards were presented to:

• AML/CTF Leadership in Government Award
  Cameron "Kip" Holmes
  Director of the Southwest Border Anti-Money Laundering Alliance and Senior Litigator
  Criminal Division, Financial Remedies Section
  Arizona Attorney General's Office
  
  
• Private-Public Sector Service Award
  BSA Coalition
  Richmond, VA

Wednesday | Cyberattacks and a Peek Into the Future
Wednesday's morning discussion centered on how newly proposed standards and potential rules for cybersecurity will affect all financial institutions.  Larry Clinton, President of the Internet Security Alliance (ISA), called on attendees to make sure their institutions actively participated in helping craft new rules, and warned that efforts to improve US cybersecurity should focus less on the unlikely possibility of catastrophic cyberattacks and more on the ongoing costs of intellectual theft.

During the International Update session, the discussion focused on the implications of several key initiatives and their effect now and into the future.  Specifically, we took a look at the new FATF Recommendations and their far-reaching effects, the newly-launched UK Financial Conduct Authority and efforts it is taking to combat financial crimes, and the success of recent anti-money laundering initiatives in Mexico. 

JOIN US IN 2014
ACAMS moneylaundering.com will host its 20th Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference once again at The Westin Diplomat in 2014. The pre-conference workshops and CAMS Examination Preparation Seminar will take place on March 16, followed by the main conference beginning March 17 through 19, with a post-conference workshop on March 19. To register, please call +1 305.373.0020 or send an email to info@acams.org.