SAR Trek – looking to the next generation

Although the US enacted the first anti-money law in the world with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in 1970, the AML compliance field really didn’t come into its own there until the late 1990s. After the events of 11 September 2001, the AML/BSA compliance industry appeared to begin in earnest with many new automatic transaction monitoring systems vendors entering the market, writes Ken Bryant. Here he draws on his experience to trace the evolution of AML compliance standards and best practice in transaction monitoring alongside developing regulatory expectations.

Ken Bryant’s firm advises governments, international bodies, regulatory agencies, financial institutions, consulting firms, and AML vendors on a global basis. For more information, please see www.amlcft.com

Excepting only the smallest financial institutions, implementation of technology by the AML compliance function is critical and, for the largest financial institutions, its use may, in effect, be the only way to comply with money laundering regulations. One key area is transaction monitoring. Although the best monitoring systems combine human and technological intervention, this article focuses on the latter.