Analyzing financial records for fraud

BSA & AML Solutions

Bringing together industry-leading solutions and investigative experience to detect and prevent financial crime, reduce regulatory risk and strengthen current control environments

Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance is more than simply checking a regulatory box.

It requires developing and maintaining controls around specific risks and implementing effective monitoring techniques. At Baker Tilly, we bring together industry-leading experience in BSA/AML and OFAC compliance, an established proficiency in fraud detection and prevention and a detailed understanding of technology with our forward-looking approach to help clients better manage BSA/AML and OFAC risk.

Evolve your risk program

An estimated $800 billion to $2 trillion is laundered every year through the global financial industry by nefarious groups. And with a constantly evolving risk landscape, punctuated by changes in the cannabis and cryptocurrency spaces, maintaining compliance is more difficult than ever. To address these money-laundering and sanctions risks and keep clients ahead of the evolution, Baker Tilly looks around the corners to help institutions understand, address and continually evolve their programs to stay ahead of the regulatory curve and ensure the safety and soundness of the institution. We help businesses ensure robust procedures are designed and implemented, that staff is properly trained and any suspicious activity or transactional red flags are proactively identified and swiftly investigated.

Our programs are designed to protect all organizations that are subject to BSA/AML regulations. This includes financial institutions, as well as a wide range of nonbank financial institutions, including but not limited to; attorneys, auto dealers, jewelers, casinos and cash intensive businesses. Our financial crimes specialists help these businesses better manage the immense regulatory compliance challenge of monitoring all domestic and international transactions for suspicious activity or violation of sanctions laws.

Our services

Additionally, Baker Tilly assists clients in responding to and mitigating damages from suspected fraudulent activity as well as helping clients design the structure and validate the models used to prevent the problem. Our services include:

  • Independent review of BSA programs
  • Model validation
  • Continuous monitoring
  • Evaluation of customer risk ratings
  • AML investigations and lookbacks
  • KYC (know-your-customer) investigations
  • Customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence
  • Regulatory and fraud investigations
  • Review and/or development of company policies and procedures
  • Review of required filings
  • Assistance responding to regulatory comments
  • Training for employees and board members
  • Risk assessment
  • IT consulting

Every financial institution could be involved in a money-laundering scheme, especially with potentially unknown or unrecognized exposure due to the increased use of cryptocurrencies and other emerging products. The remote processing environment also increases the risk and exposure to the business processing environment. Financial institutions are facing added scrutiny in regard to BSA and AML governance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and state regulators such as the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) making prevention and detection vital to the success of your business, the financial services industry and the global economy.

Financial institutions must ensure they have a system of controls in place to effectively monitor and address their regulatory compliance in a timely manner. This is usually accomplished through the development and implementation of a detailed system of controls to make certain business operations are not only complying with existing regulations, but also have an active and flexible continuous transaction monitoring system that can be adjusted as new risks arise.

An effective BSA/AML compliance program requires sound risk management and controlling risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing. Because AML laws and regulations often change, it is essential to stay abreast of the latest regulations. Our experienced team can help you to sort through these guidelines, ensuring that your organization has the controls and procedures in place to address potential illicit financing and resolve any gaps in your compliance program related to the most current regulatory guidelines.

As former compliance professionals, regulators and federal law enforcement agents with expertise in this space, we have experience in BSA/AML/OFAC from many vantage points and are uniquely positioned to advise your institution. Our global team of specialists can help your organization design, maintain and implement robust and sustainable financial crimes compliance programs — BSA/AML, OFAC sanctions, anti-bribery/anti-corruption, and anti-fraud. We work with you to understand your business, systems and processes and then create a tailored approach for your BSA audit.

We help clients increase efficiency, decrease operational costs and ensure your system is working properly with a risk-based model validation. Validation includes:

  • Conceptual design: evaluation of the logic and design of the model
  • System validation: validation of the design for performance
  • Data validation: validation of the accuracy and completeness of data captured by the system
  • Process validation: evaluation of the controls, reconciliation and the accuracy of outputs and reporting
  • Change management and access: evaluation of the access levels of users and who can change established model criteria or data assumptions

Baker Tilly’s validation process follows the requirements as outlined in the FDIC, OCC and FRB regulatory guidance on model risk management.