Practices

Anti-Money Laundering

Ballard Spahr represents a broad range of financial institutions and other businesses regarding Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulatory compliance, and defense relating to examinations and enforcement. Our attorneys help clients establish and refine AML policies and procedures.

We advise on “Know Your Customer” and customer identification policies and procedures, beneficial ownership requirements, Suspicious Activity Report filings, Currency Transaction Report filings, Travel Rule compliance, the adequacy of transaction monitoring processes, and other BSA/AML reporting and record keeping requirements. We also assist clients with regulatory exam preparation and response, due diligence for lending and acquisitions, and issues regarding AML compliance staffing and training.

If potential violations have occurred, we conduct internal investigations and assist in responding to administrative, civil or criminal investigations, government enforcement actions, and related civil ligation by private parties.

Experience 

Our experience includes the following:

  • Advised numerous financial institutions and other companies across a spectrum of industries on regulatory compliance with BSA/AML, counter-terrorism financing, and anti-corruption requirements. This work has included drafting and revising compliance policies and procedures, developing risk assessments, determining whether a SAR filing(s) was appropriate, AML due diligence during M&A transactions, determining whether to close or maintain customer accounts, and helping institutions respond to regulatory examinations.
  • Assisted a major industry group in drafting a comment letter to FinCEN regarding proposed AML regulations.
  • Conducted numerous corporate internal investigations focused on potential BSA/AML, money laundering, fraud, tax, and securities violations. These internal investigations have included allegations by third parties or insiders that a financial institution failed to maintain an effective BSA/AML compliance program and therefore failed to file required SARs and/or respond adequately to known suspicious transactions.