1. Available from BankersOnline.com
Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)
For Lenders
07-08
Available from BankersOnline.com

2. USA Patriot Act
After September 11th, President Bush signed into law the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act
Provides additional tools to prevent, detect, and prosecute international money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

3. What is the BSA?
The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requires all financial institutions, casinos, and certain other businesses to:
Monitor customer behavior
File reports on transactions that meet certain dollar amounts
Maintain records of certain transactions
The BSA aids law enforcement and the IRS by uncovering criminal activities such as money laundering, drug trafficking, tax fraud, and possible terrorist financing.

4. The Paper and Information Trail
The BSA requires financial institutions to perform certain reporting and recordkeeping. These include:
The Currency Transaction Report (CTR), which records cash transactions that exceed $10,000.
The Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), which records any known or suspected federal violation of federal law.

5. Office of Foreign Assets Control
OFAC is part of the US Treasury Dept and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries, terrorists, and international narcotics traffickers
Parties subject to the OFAC sanctions are:
Specially Designated Nationals
Specially Designated Terrorists
Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers
Blocked Persons
Blocked Vessels
OFAC laws require banks to identify any transactions and property subject to the economic sanctions
Once identified, the asset must be blocked or the transaction may be rejected
Frozen assets may not be released without the authorization of OFAC

6. Customer Information Program (CIP)
Three basic rules
Verify identity of the “customer” (may be individual or business)
Maintain records for 5 years after account is closed
Check government lists (OFAC)
To verify identity, we must obtain five important pieces of information prior to opening an account:
Name
Date of birth
Residential or business street address
Numbers (US Tax ID # or foreign issued alien ID card #)
Document (Place of Issuance, Number, Issue & Expiration Date)
Notice displayed on each new account and loan officer desk explaining our customer identification program
For every new business venture, the CSR completes a risk assessment form

7. Customer Information Program (CIP)
The same attention and verifying identification must also be given to individuals obtaining business loans.
The following must be obtained depending on the type of business:
Employee Identification Number (EIN)
Corporate resolution
Fictitious business name statement
Partnership agreement
We may process a loan for a borrower that has applied for, but has not yet received, an EIN. However in such cases, we must obtain a copy of the application before booking the loan and obtain the EIN within a reasonable period of time.
The Loan Officer is responsible for following up to ensure the EIN is received.

8. What Is Money Laundering?
Money Laundering is when illegal money is brought into the mainstream circulation.
Launderers hide the source of these illegal funds by making a series of intricate transactions. The true source of the money is “washed away.”
Step 1 – Integration. This is the step where the laundered funds are legitimized, using various means such as checking accounts opened with illegal cash that is then used to draw a check and purchase a car.
Step 2 – Placement. This is how the funds are first introduced into the financial system. There are many different methods of placement.
Step 3 – Layering. This involves moving funds into multiple accounts and/or ventures to hide activity and business ownership. This is often a series of complex transactions designed to shift the money, while leaving a difficult or impossible trail to follow.

9. Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)
A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) must be filed on any known or suspected federal violation of law. Suspicious activity requires reporting if it involves at least $5,000 aggregate, and the institution knows or suspects that (for example):
The funds are derived from illegal activities
The funds are part of a plan to violate or evade any federal law or regulation
The transaction is designed to evade other reporting requirements
The transaction is not the sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to engage, and the institution knows of no reasonable explanation for the transaction.

10. Other Types of Reportable Activity
Bribery
Check Fraud
Check Kiting
Computer Intrusion
Counterfeit Check
Counterfeit Credit/Debit Card
Credit/Debit Card Fraud
Embezzlement
False Statement
Loan Fraud
Misuse of Position
Mysterious Disappearance
Wire Transfer Fraud
Tax Evasion
Terrorist Financing
Identity Theft

11. Penalties for Noncompliance
Failure to comply with the BSA can have serious consequences for you and for your institution.
Civil Penalties
Your institution and its employees may be levied daily fines. A separate violation occurs for each day a violation continues. The funds involved are subject to government seizure and forfeiture.
Criminal Penalties
Your institution and its employees are liable for criminal penalties of fines from $250,000 to $500,000 and imprisonment of 5 years to 10 years. The funds involved are subject to government seizure and forfeiture.
Intangible Penalties
Your institution and its employees may suffer a decline in public confidence from highly publicized accounts of civil and criminal actions taken against your institution. Also, an unsatisfactory BSA rating during a federal examination may delay or cancel expansion or acquisition plans.

12. Seizure and Forfeiture
Real or personal property traceable to illegal drug sales or purchased with laundered money is subject to government seizure and forfeiture.
Occasionally, seized property is collateral for bank loans. Therefore, a bank must obtain and confirm enough information about its customers to protect its loan collateral from loss due to government forfeiture.
Banks should use caution when accepting collateral to ensure there is no reason to believe the customer or the collateral might be involved in any unusual or suspicious activity.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER!
If you fund a loan with a CD as collateral – notify the BSA Officer for tracking.

13. Your Responsibility
The loan process can and has been used to launder money and to shelter other illegal activities. Lending personnel must be knowledgeable in CIP and must be alert to the types of situations described below:
Cash collateral used for loan for which purpose or source of cash would not be disclosed
The customer’s stated purpose of the loan does not make economic sense or is inconsistent with the borrower’s background, nature of business, previous statements, or similar businesses.
CDs purchased with undisclosed source of cash and used as loan collateral
A sudden payment of cash on a loan, especially if the loan is delinquent
Loan payments by third parties.
A loan request by an offshore company or proceeds wired or otherwise transferred offshore
Although an incident may not be suspicious by itself, you may need to refer it to the BSA Officer or your immediate supervisor for further investigating. The final determination of whether a transaction is suspicious also will depend on whether the facts, circumstances, and your knowledge of the customer provide a reasonable explanation for the transaction.

14. LOAN OFFICER SENTENCED TO 15 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON.
PHILLIP GRACE, 44, was charged in a three-count indictment and convicted of a felony charge of disclosing a federal grand jury subpoena with the intent to obstruct justice.
"Bank officials are aware that leaking knowledge of a grand jury subpoena is against the law," stated Alice H. Martin, United States Attorney. "This significant prison sentence should serve as a deterrence to others contemplating an attempt to obstruct a grand jury investigation.“
"Disclosing a federal grand jury subpoena is a matter that is taken seriously by the FBI," states Carmen Adams, FBI, Birmingham Field Division.
Grace said he was concerned that the bank's more than $3 million in loans to the customer could be jeopardized by a federal investigation.

15. TAX FRAUD SCHEME SENDS FIVE TO FEDERAL PRISON
Al Morton, Jr., 37, was sentenced to 72 months in prison for his role in an elaborate scheme to file false Income Tax Returns.  Morton, along with five others were charged in February 2007 with conspiracy, filing false claims, bank fraud, and witness tampering.  In addition to the prison term, the Court entered a forfeiture order for $694,447.
From January 2002 until May 2002, the listed defendants caused the preparation and filing of false, fictitious and fraudulent tax returns in their own names and in the names of others they recruited.  The false tax returns were then filed with the IRS, and  submitted to Bank One, a federally insured financial institution, for the purpose of acquiring Refund Anticipation Loans.  The defendants then obtained the proceeds of these Refund Anticipation Loans, giving a small portion to the individuals they recruited to file the fraudulent returns, and divided the remainder among themselves.