Peace of Mind for Your Compliance Program

Changes to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (the Act) and Phase 1 changes of its associated regulations affected reporting entity obligations, including reporting, record keeping, client identification, and implementing a compliance regime. These changes were finalized and the related regulations were published in June 2007.

What Is a Compliance Regime?

Your compliance regime will have to be tailored to fit your individual needs. It should reflect the nature, size, and complexity of your operations. Your compliance regime must include the following:

• the appointment of a compliance officer;

• the development and application of compliance policies and procedures, which must be written and kept up to date. If you are an entity, they also have to be approved by a senior officer;

• an assessment and documentation of risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing;

• if you have employees or agents or any other individuals authorized to act on your behalf, an on-going compliance training program for them. Effective June 23, 2008, the training program has to be in writing and maintained; and a review of your compliance policies and procedures to test their effectiveness. The review has to cover your policies and procedures, your assessment of risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing and your training program. The review also has to be done every two years.

These five elements are key to any effective system of internal controls.

Will your compliance regime bear scrutiny?

• Is your compliance regime up and running?

• Have you tested it?

• Is it comprehensive enough to protect your organization from new legislative offences and penalties?

What began with record-keeping, client ID, and the voluntary reporting of large cash transactions in the 1990s has now expanded into a comprehensive regime of regulatory compliance. Penalties are in place for any company or organization without the proper standards in place.

As technology evolves, however, and e-Commerce becomes more entrenched in our daily lives, the money laundering typologies developed by criminals and terrorists are constantly changing. So too are the risks for financial institutions, accountants, casinos, foreign currency exchange houses, money service businesses as well as a host of other “reporting entities” affected by the legislation. Compliance has become a moving target.

ABCsolutions has developed a comprehensive evaluation program of review that does meet the expectations of the Act and its supporting regulations, while at the same time keeping costs tailored to the size of your organization and your needs. Using a combination of document review and on-site visits to assess your compliance regime we are able to obtain a clear understanding of the strengths and limitations of your regime, which are then set out in a final report. That report will also provide recommendations for change where needed and make suggestions on how those recommendations can be addressed.