Austin, Texas, April 2, 2020 - During this uncertain time of pandemic and economic downturn, many financial institutions are struggling to keep all aspects of their operations strong. Many BSA/AML and compliance professionals are tasked with instituting business continuity plans while receiving no relief from their normal regulatory compliance duties and deadlines.
Abrigo, a leading provider of compliance software, has announced that its Suspicious Activity Monitoring Services (SAMS) is now available on a new subscription basis. SAMS provides valuable resources for a financial institution’s BSA team while their responsibilities have shifted to include business continuity, and moving staff to work from home, along with the added stress of watching the pandemic unfold. FinCEN has not provided deadline relief for suspicious activity monitoring and reporting meaning the regulatory expectation is for business to go on as usual and to remain alert to illicit financial activity.
Abrigo has positioned its team of BSA experts to become an extension of an institution’s BSA and compliance staff in the event of staff shortages caused by COVID-19. The SAMS offering provides BSA staff augmentation to assist institutions during this difficult time in a variety of ways, including:
- Alert and/or case investigation
- Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) preparation and review
- Enhanced Due Diligence – higher risk customer periodic reviews
- Quality control
The new subscription service allows financial institutions to subscribe to short- or long-term services to support meeting regulatory deadlines during this pandemic. Financial Institutions are already working with Abrigo’s Advisory Services as their staff augmentation partner. Capital Bank, N.A.,’s Davreen Dixon, JD, CAMS, said, “Working with Abrigo’s Advisory Services team gives me time to focus on other projects that strengthen our program. We have confidence in knowing the [suspicious activity] alerts are being worked in a timely and thorough manner.”
“BSA officers have an important job to do protecting the integrity of our financial system and that doesn’t stop during a pandemic,” said Abrigo President Jay Blandford. “Our Advisory Services team can help financial institutions’ BSA departments remain compliant and keep their programs strong as their daily tasks increase to keep the business moving.”
