 | |
| Abbreviation | ACAMS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, United States |
Membership | 100,000 (2023) |
Official language | English |
| Owner | Wendel |
| Scott Liles | |
Staff | 303 (2023) |
| Website | www |
The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) is an organization that provides training and certification, runs conferences and disseminates information (including through the publication ACAMS Today) on detection and prevention of money laundering. [1]
ACAMS was founded by Alert Global Media, owned by Charles Intriago, and formally launched in February 2002. [2] Charles and his wife, Joy, [3] grew the organization to over 6,500 members by 2007 [3] and established the CAMS designation for anti-money laundering (AML) professionals. [4] [5] ACAMS is part of the financial services segment of Adtalem Global Education (formerly DeVry Education Group), which purchased it in 2016 from Warburg Pincus for $330 million. [6] In August 2021, Adtalem announced it would explore strategic alternatives for this unit. [7] Wendel acquired ACAMS in 2022. [8]
Although based in the United States, ACAMS has an international reach with 10,000 members at the end of 2009 and a strong presence in Europe, Latin America and a growing presence in Asia. [9] In January 2009 ACAMS opened a center in Hong Kong. [10] In June 2009 ACAMS established a Nigerian chapter in Lagos, Nigeria. The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, said the ICPC was looking forward to a fruitful partnership with ACAMS in the campaign against corruption and all other related crimes. [11]
ACAMS provides training and assists other educational organizations in anti-money laundering courses. Its Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) program is internationally recognized. The CAMS program takes one day of education and half a day of examination, so participants must already have a strong basis in AML-related issues. [12] The ACAMS qualifications are said to be less exacting than the graduate diplomas offered by the ICA in the UK. [9]
In October 2004, ACAMS sent representatives to Dubai to start training Middle Eastern students to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. [13] In July 2006, ACAMS arranged for a CAMS preparation seminar and examination on Grand Cayman. [14] In January 2007, ACAMS gave Gregory A. Simms, former senior investigator at the Jamaican Financial Services Commission, the CAMS designation. [15] In May 2008, ACAMS arranged CAMS testing in Beirut, attended five staff members of the Lebanese Special Investigation Commission. [16] In July 2008, ACAMS and Case Western Reserve University School of Law offered a five-day course for compliance officers and others interested in the AML field. [17] In May 2009, ACAMS signed an agreement with Fudan University in Shanghai to jointly provide anti-money laundering training throughout mainland China. [18]
In December 2007, ACAMS and the Union of Arab Banks held a conference on money laundering and terrorist financing conference in Dubai. [19] ACAMS runs annual conferences, attended mainly by bank compliance officers responsible for ensuring that their institutions follow the provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act. In September 2008, at the seventh Annual International Money Laundering Conference & Exhibition, special sessions addressed the increasing risks caused by new online banking technologies and the emerging "virtual worlds." [20]
Executives of ACAMS are often cited in stories about money-laundering. In February 2003, Saskia Rietbroek-Garces, executive director of ACAMS, was quoted as saying "Money is like water. The money will always find the path of least resistance." [21] In January 2005, talking of a case in which Riggs Bank failed to report suspicious transaction by General Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile, Rietbroek-Garces said it was a "textbook case study of most of the money-laundering issues that have surfaced since the Patriot Act." [22] In another interview that month, she said that detecting terrorist financing probably is one of the most challenging tasks for both small and large banks. [23] A Wall Street Journal article of April 2005 quoted Rietbroek-Garces as saying that the greatest problem in South America is lack of enforcement, rather than lack of an up-to-date legal system. [24]
Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is usually a key operation of organized crime.
In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Compliance has traditionally been explained by reference to the deterrence theory, according to which punishing a behavior will decrease the violations both by the wrongdoer and by others. This view has been supported by economic theory, which has framed punishment in terms of costs and has explained compliance in terms of a cost-benefit equilibrium. However, psychological research on motivation provides an alternative view: granting rewards or imposing fines for a certain behavior is a form of extrinsic motivation that weakens intrinsic motivation and ultimately undermines compliance.
The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), also known by its French name, Groupe d'action financière (GAFI), is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering and to maintain certain interest. In 2001, its mandate was expanded to include terrorism financing.
Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and regulations in financial services require professionals to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship with a customer. The procedures fit within the broader scope of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism financing (CTF) regulations.
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is an Australian government financial intelligence agency responsible for monitoring financial transactions to identify money laundering, organised crime, tax evasion, welfare fraud and terrorism financing. AUSTRAC was established in 1989 under the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988. It implements in Australia the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which Australia joined in 1990.
In domestic and international commercial law, a beneficial owner is a natural person or persons who ultimately owns or controls an interest in a legal entity or arrangement, such as a company, a trust, or a foundation. Legal owners, commonly described as the "registered owners", may hold those interests as beneficial owners or for the benefit of someone else, in which case they may be described as a "nominee".
Transnational organized crime (TOC) is organized crime coordinated across national borders, involving groups or markets of individuals working in more than one country to plan and execute illegal business ventures. In order to achieve their goals, these criminal groups use systematic violence and corruption. Common transnational organized crimes include conveying drugs, conveying arms, trafficking for sex, toxic waste disposal, materials theft and poaching.
The Financial Action Task Force blacklist, is a blacklist maintained by the Financial Action Task Force.
The chief compliance officer (CCO) is a corporate executive within the C-suite responsible for overseeing and managing regulatory compliance issues within an organization. The CCO typically reports to the chief executive officer or the chief legal officer.
Anti-Money Laundering is software used in the finance and legal industries to help companies comply with the legal requirements for financial institutions and other regulated entities to prevent or report money laundering activities. AML software can facilitate faster and more accurate compliance and investigations.
Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud ; theft; scams or confidence tricks; tax evasion; bribery; sedition; embezzlement; identity theft; money laundering; and forgery and counterfeiting, including the production of counterfeit money and consumer goods.
The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) is a FATF style regional inter-governmental (international) body, the members of which are committed to effectively implementing the international standards against money laundering (AML), the financing of terrorism (CTF) and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. APG was founded in 1997 in Bangkok, Thailand, and currently consists of 42 member jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region and a number of observer jurisdictions and international/regional observer organisations.
The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), is a Nigerian agency that was inaugurated on 29 September 2000 following the recommendation of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The mandate is to receive and investigate reports of corruption and in appropriate cases prosecute the offender(s), to examine, review and enforce the correction of corruption prone systems and procedures of public bodies, with a view to eliminating corruption in public life, and to educate and enlighten the public on and against corruption and related offences with a view to enlisting and fostering public support for the fight against corruption. The Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000 governs the committee's activities.
The Bank of Singapore is the private banking arm of OCBC Bank. Formerly known as ING Asia Private Bank, it was acquired by OCBC Bank in 2009 from ING Group for US$1.46 billion. As of 31 March 2023, Bank of Singapore's assets under management (AUM) was US$124 billion.
The Financial Monitoring Unit is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Pakistan established under the provisions of Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. It is an independent intelligence service department of the Government of Pakistan and primarily responsible for analyzing transactions, money laundering cases, building efforts against the terrorist financing, and all sorts of financial crimes within the jurisdiction of financial laws of Pakistan.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is the financial regulatory agency of the special economic zone, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is distinct from the UAE's federal Securities and Commodities Authority, whose jurisdiction covers the wider UAE outside the boundaries of the DIFC. It operates only within the special economic zone and is tasked with providing a regulatory environment of international standards.
The Wolfsberg Group is a non-governmental association of thirteen global banks. It started as a meeting of banks in 1999 who adopted a number of best practice standards under the name Wolfsberg Principles. On 22 September 2021 the association under Swiss law under the name "The Wolfsberg Group" was founded in Basel.
The Qatar Financial Information Unit (QFIU) is a Qatari government regulatory agency responsible for financial intelligence efforts to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism. Like other national Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) around the world, it requires banks, investment companies, insurers and other financial institutions to report suspicious financial transactions. QFIU then analyzes the information and disseminates the relevant data to law enforcement authorities for further investigation and action.
ComplyAdvantage, founded in 2014, is a RegTech company that provides software to help detect and manage risks associated with AML and Fraud. The company uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to help regulated organisations manage risk obligations and counteract financial crime.
The Anti-Money Laundering Improvement Act (AML) is a collection of regulations and laws in the United States aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The act builds upon the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the first anti-money laundering enforcement law.
