Combating Terrorism Through the US Patriot Act
The Bank Secrecy Act provides the set of regulations and procedures that are used by financial institutions throughout the country in order to allow those businesses and banks to better monitor their customers and their transactions. Every bank in the country is required by law to have a program written that specifically outlines these compliance regulations for the presidents, that managers, and the employees of every American institution. This programs monitors the employee’s actions and are designed to ensure that the laws and the regulations are being followed. The US Patriot Act was established in the months following the terrorist attacks, in order to ensure that the procedures of the Act remain pertinent and current.
Each program is required to provide certain stipulations regarding these following procedures. Along with the written guidelines, companies must also have in place a system which allow them to control the internal workings of their institution, a checks and balance so to speak, must be put in place and rigorously followed. The key to the validity of the system lies in the continued compliance and the diligence of the employees that are caring out their tasks on a daily basis.
These are legal standards that must be met in order to ensure that criminal activities such as money laundering and acts of terrorist financing are less likely to occur, and that suspicious instances surrounding these activities are discovered in a timely and an efficient manner. In order for the procedures to remain at such a consistent standard, it is wise for an institution or a business to assign the position of over-seeing the daily operations and the monitoring and the coordination of updating the workings of the internal staff.
Appropriate training should always be provided for employees, so that for one, they are more knowledgeable in the laws that they are to be following, and for second, that they do not become held criminally responsible for ignorance. In a court of law, ignorance is not a defense. Any activities that involve all aspects of corruption must accounted for. Should a company have a set standard that they follow exactly, they will be able to prove during any investigation, that they were following the laws that they are required, and they will not be held responsible.
Related posts: