AML/CFT

Fort Community Credit Union strengthens BSA/AML compliance with Abrigo

Asset size

$400 million

Product

BAM+

Financial institution type

Credit union

As regulatory scrutiny around Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) programs intensified, Fort Community Credit Union needed a scalable way to strengthen risk monitoring, improve consistency, and support a lean compliance team.

After moving from a largely manual process to Abrigo's automated BSA/AML platform, the credit union gained:

Better visibility into member risk
Improved suspicious activity detection
Increased confidence during examinations.

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The challenge: Growing regulatory demands with limited resources

Like many community financial institutions, Fort Community Credit Union faces increasing compliance obligations while operating with a small team. Its Chief Operations Officer and BSA Officer, Meghan Bernath, oversees a broad range of responsibilities, including BSA/AML compliance, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance, physical security, vendor management, information technology oversight, and operational risk management. With only two full-time employees focused on BSA responsibilities, balancing day-to-day monitoring with evolving regulatory expectations can be challenging.

Before implementing Abrigo, the credit union relied heavily on manual processes to identify high-risk members and suspicious activity. Risk ratings often depended on individual judgment, reporting capabilities were limited, and monitoring lacked consistency.

"When you’re running everything manually with a small team, it’s a huge challenge to meet all regulatory requirements. You can't just check a box—you need to understand the regulations, so a significant amount of time goes into research and making sure policies and procedures stay aligned. Meanwhile, the day-to-day work still has to get done."

Meghan Bernath, Chief Operations Officer and BSA Officer

The solution: Automated monitoring and a true compliance partnership

Fort Community Credit Union implemented Abrigo's BSA/AML monitoring platform to automate member risk rating, suspicious activity monitoring, and alert management. The solution introduced standardized risk-scoring criteria, enabling the compliance team to consistently identify high, medium, and low-risk accounts based on defined rules rather than individual interpretation. It also improved visibility into member activity and generated alerts that previously might have gone undetected.

As the credit union matured its program, Bernath leveraged Abrigo's Scenario Tuner capabilities to refine monitoring thresholds and align alerts more closely with member behavior.

"Scenario Tuner is the best thing ever," Bernath said. "I know more about my members now. It's given me much more insight."

Bernath also relies heavily on Due Diligence Manager to investigate suspicious activity and review member relationships more efficiently.

Beyond the technology, Abrigo became a valuable extension of the compliance team. Bernath has leaned on Abrigo support when examiners challenged monitoring approaches or requested additional clarification.

"During my last two exams, I've contacted my account reps while examiners were in my office and I needed help explaining something,” she said. “Within an hour, I had emails back saying the Abrigo team was available whenever our examiners wanted to meet."

The result: Better detection, greater consistency, and examination confidence

After implementation, Fort Community Credit Union immediately identified suspicious activity that had previously gone unnoticed. The increase in suspicious activity reports (SARs) initially surprised board members, but the institution recognized that the activity had always existed—the new system simply enabled the team to detect and document it more effectively.

Other key benefits have included:

Improved detection capabilities:
Automated monitoring identified suspicious activity and structuring behavior that manual processes and frontline reporting alone had failed to capture.
Consistent risk rating methodology: The platform established standardized criteria for member risk ratings, creating a more defensible and transparent process for auditors and examiners.
Better visibility into member activity: Enhanced monitoring and analytics provide deeper insight into account behavior, helping staff identify trends and make more informed compliance decisions.
Manageable alert volumes: Through ongoing tuning and optimization, the credit union established a predictable alert workload that aligns with available staffing resources.
Stronger examination support: Responsive access to Abrigo's product specialists, customer success team, and regulatory expertise helps reduce stress during examinations and provides additional confidence when responding to examiner questions.