Global Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crime Challenges and Opportunities to be Addressed at the 19th Annual ACAMS moneylaundering.com Conference

MIAMI, FL, March 12, 2014 (Press-News.org) The ACAMS moneylaundering.com 19th Annual International AML & Financial Crime Conference, "New Challenges, New Opportunities in Global Compliance," will feature expert-led sessions on a wide range of financial crime and regulatory compliance issues. Among the featured presenters are The Honorable Thomas J. Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC); Peter T. King, Congressman, US House of Representatives for New York's Second District; and Juan C. Zarate, Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Also speaking at the conference will be Patrick Murck, General Counsel of the Bitcoin Foundation. More than 1,300 compliance professionals are expended to attend the conference, running March 17-19 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida.

Under Curry's administration and in conjunction with law enforcement, the OCC reached record-high settlements with HSBC and JPMorgan Chase that cost the institutions more than $1 billion in penalties for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violations. Last month, Curry unveiled new guidelines requiring large national banks to establish a strong - not just satisfactory - framework for risk management and global governance. The guidelines expedite the process for issuing civil monetary penalties for BSA and AML violations and hold financial institutions' boards of directors more accountable for oversight of the bank's risk-taking activities. This is Curry's first appearance at the ACAMS moneylaundering.com Conference.

"The OCC has done a lot during Curry's short tenure to tie safety and soundness within the banking industry to Bank Secrecy Act compliance and his presence in Hollywood is a great opportunity for financial crime professionals to hear directly from him about the OCC's priorities and expectations," remarked Kieran Beer, CAMS, Editor-in-Chief at ACAMS moneylaundering.com.

King and Zarate have been influential in the efforts against terrorism on different fronts. During his time as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, King spearheaded hearings bringing attention to the study of terrorist threats to circumvent future occurrences on U.S. soil, while Zarate, in his role as the deputy assistant to the president and Treasury for terrorism financing and financial crimes, was instrumental in blueprinting AML/CTF and sanctions efforts and in his aggressive use of financial intelligence and law enforcement tools to attack financial crime at the global level.

"Chairman King and Juan Zarate have been integral to the money laundering and terrorist financing efforts in the United States, each bringing their own unique value to the AML community. The conferences delegates will now have the opportunity to hear firsthand the accounts from King and Zarate, and their views on what challenges lie ahead," John J. Byrne, CAMS, Executive Vice President at ACAMS said.

After Comptroller Curry's opening keynote, the conference features an in-depth conversation with chief compliance officers on how to balance AML with competing priorities. Other topics include an update on the continuing challenges Bitcoin and other virtual currencies create for AML compliance. The Hot Topics in AML session will delve into "de-risking" responses by financial institutions as they exit accounts that may pose substantial money laundering risks.

Regarding virtual currencies and the ongoing Bitcoin case, Murck is scheduled to appear twice. Once as a presenter for "Examining the Rise of Virtual Currencies and the Potential Risk of their Abuse Through Your Institution" and a second time as a panelist to discuss "Virtual Currency 101: Understanding Virtual Currencies and their Potential Vulnerability to Money Laundering." Both topics will be addressed on Wednesday, March 19.

In addition to the lineup of keynote presentations, ACAMS has confirmed special addresses from a US Department of the Treasury authority - Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Director for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as well as presentations from The Honorable Ryan Pinder from the Ministry of Financial Services, Government of the Bahamas; Calvin Wilson from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF); and Celina B. Realuyo from the National Defense University.

Books & Books will host a private book signing of Treasury's War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare with author Juan Zarate on March 18. To access John Byrne's interview with Juan, download the podcast.

More than 1,300 compliance professionals are expected to attend the conference, which is hosted by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS). The conference runs March 17-19 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida.

Full conference details and registration information are available at http://www.moneylaunderingconference.com or by contacting ACAMS on 305-373-0020 or info@acams.org. The conference will also offer a real-time broadcast option that provides Internet access to a video feed of the keynote presentations and selected educational sessions. Recorded sessions will be archived in an online library for post-conference referral.

Editor's Note: Members of the media may contact Kourtney McCarty on kmccarty@acams.org or 786-871-3109 or The Murry Agency at 305-531-5720 for credentials. Press may also participate through the virtual conference option.

About the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS )
ACAMS is the largest international membership organization dedicated to enhancing the knowledge and skills of AML and financial crime professionals from a wide range of industries with extensive resources designed to develop and sharpen the skills required for superior job performance and career advancement. Its CAMS certification is the most widely recognized AML certification among compliance professionals worldwide. Visit acams.org for more information.