AML
Anti-Money Laundering — controls to detect and prevent illicit financial flows.
AML programs include customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting (SARs), and sanctions screening. Regulated money services businesses are held to bank-like AML standards.
Design controls for the actual business
An anti-money-laundering program must reflect relevant activities, customers, geography, and products. Regulated organizations should identify their governing requirements rather than borrowing another industry’s checklist. Responsibilities, training, review processes, and recordkeeping connect the program to day-to-day decisions.
Alerts need review and reasoning
Unusual activity is not by itself proof of money laundering. Review the relationship, expected behavior, available information, and relevant escalation rules. Document why an alert was resolved or escalated. Where reporting duties apply, follow the correct process and confidentiality requirements rather than treating a monitoring flag as a public accusation.
Separate related disciplines
Customer identification, transaction monitoring, and sanctions compliance overlap but answer different questions. Passing one check does not satisfy every obligation. Use official guidance and qualified advice for the business’s specific requirements, and avoid describing a general risk-intelligence tool as an automatic AML compliance solution.
Related terms
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