AML/CFT

Taunton Federal Credit Union streamlines and strengthens fraud detection operations with Abrigo

Asset size

$438 million

Product

Abrigo BAM+

Financial institution type

Credit union

As Taunton Federal Credit Union (TFed) expanded through mergers, branch growth, and organic member acquisition, its compliance and fraud teams faced increasing workloads without additional staff. Manual processes for cash reporting, CTR filing, fraud monitoring, and case management were becoming difficult to sustain at scale.

TFed partnered with Abrigo to implement its BAM+ anti-money laundering solution, enabling the credit union to automate critical compliance and fraud workflows, improve collaboration between departments, and identify suspicious activity more quickly. Within the first 90 days after implementation and calibration, the credit union began realizing measurable efficiency gains and detecting fraud that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Read the highlights below or download the full case study to hear more about Taunton Federal Credit Union's Abrigo experience.

Download the full case study

The challenge: Growing workloads and manual processes

When Tracy Schonhoff, AVP of Compliance at TFed, joined the credit union in 2021, it was already experiencing rapid growth. As assets nearly doubled and branch locations expanded, the volume of compliance and fraud-related work increased dramatically.

The compliance and fraud teams were managing growing workloads using largely manual processes. Staff reviewed cash reports manually, created and filed CTRs, tracked activity in spreadsheets, and relied on emails, conversations, and separate systems to communicate about suspicious activity. While audits remained strong and the teams met regulatory expectations, the strain was becoming apparent.

"We could feel the growing pains," Schonhoff said. "The amount of work coming into our department had doubled, maybe even tripled, and we had the same amount of staff."

Leadership recognized that continued growth would require greater automation. Rather than adding personnel to maintain existing processes, TFed wanted a solution that could help existing staff work more efficiently while strengthening compliance and fraud monitoring capabilities.

"I feel like BAM+ came on as an added employee. Instead of adding a person, we added the software. It helped the people we already had become more efficient, more effective, and able to take on additional responsibilities."

Tracy Schonhoff, AVP of Compliance

The solution: Automating compliance and fraud operations

TFed selected Abrigo's BAM+ AML solution to automate key compliance and fraud workflows while providing stronger visibility into risk across the institution. For Schonhoff, one factor stood out during the evaluation process: confidence that Abrigo would provide long-term support and industry expertise. She met the support staff at Abrigo’s annual ThinkBIG conference and was reassured that so many had a background in compliance at financial institutions.

"The people who were presenting and helping us have done what I've done in a bank or a credit union,” she said. “I'm talking to someone who's actually dealt with the challenges I deal with every day."

Implementation focused on supporting both the compliance/BSA team and the operations team responsible for fraud monitoring. The two departments now work within a shared system that enables alerts, case management, and investigations to move seamlessly between teams, improving communication and documentation.

"We're not having to utilize Teams, email, or hallway conversations," Schonhoff said. "The communication is in one system, and it’s well-documented, so we're not losing research time."

The result: Greater efficiency without adding staff

One of the most immediate benefits came from automating cash reporting and CTR processing. Previously, reviewing several days of cash reports after a holiday weekend could consume half a day or more. Staff manually gathered reports, compared transactions, created CTRs, filed them, and tracked activity in spreadsheets to identify potential structuring patterns.

Today, alerts and CTRs are generated automatically and presented for review within BAM+. Overall, TFed estimates that efficiency across core BSA functions—including cash reporting, CTR processing, SAR monitoring, due diligence, and sanctions-related activities—has improved by approximately 75%.

Rather than hiring additional personnel, the institution has effectively expanded the capabilities of its existing team.

"I feel like BAM+ came on as an added employee," Schonhoff said. "Instead of adding a person, we added the software. It helped the people we already had become more efficient, more effective, and able to take on additional responsibilities."

Download the full case study to read more.