Best-practice compliance doesn’t stop after an initial screening. In fact, many global regulators require continuous monitoring to meet their standards for internal and third-party risk management. Governments and international organizations compile global watchlists to identify entities linked to crime, corruption, terrorism, money laundering, and other various forms of unethical behavior. Entities can include individuals, corporations, or even countries. Even if these entities aren’t actively committing a crime, they could be connected to suspicious activity. It’s crucial [...]

Earlier this year, former Risk Officer at U.S Bank Michael LaFontaine was fined $450,000 for a "failure to prevent violations of the Bank Secrecy Act," according to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Bank had already been fined $613 million in 2018 for weak anti-money laundering controls, with enforcement action specific to LaFontaine. Before and during LaFontaine's tenure, U.S. Bank used a transaction-monitoring software that placed a cap on the number of alerts generated, preventing the bank [...]

In the past, a Chief Risk Officer’s (CRO) position was limited to ensuring that organizations met regulatory and compliance obligations, acting as a sort of failsafe to protect the business in the event of adverse scenarios. However, over time, CROs have acquired more influence across their organizations.  Corporate Compliance Insights recently featured an article from Vital4’s Chief Risk Officer, Guy Underwood, where he discusses the changes in a CRO’s duties and responsibilities that he has seen [...]