Published by Independent Community Banks of America

There’s an incredibly simple thing every financial institution can do to make the world safer from terrorism and other crimes: ask three more questions when customers want to send money abroad. 

Make it your practice to track the source of the funds, the purpose of the transaction and any related documentation such as an invoice. Requesting this information helps weed out fraudulent activity and dissuades criminals from doing business at your financial institution.

If this becomes your standard policy, no customer ever needs to feel singled out or targeted. Your employees never need to make tricky judgment calls about when to probe for more information.

Seeking this information is just a small step beyond the changes you are already required to make with the new FinCEN Customer Due Diligence rule that requires the name of an owner on all accounts.

Gone are the days when a customer can set up a bank account in the name of a shell company alone, without the names of the owners attached. Regulators took a close look at how financial crimes are committed, and far too often criminals use the convenience of shell companies to obscure their identities. By taking the veil off shell companies, we bring light to the dark places criminal activity sometimes lurks.

Since every financial institution needs to make operational changes to meet this new requirement – why not go just a step further, to shine an even brighter light?

Financial institutions already need to update customer records, create new onboarding procedures, and retrain employees. So it’s the perfect time to make your international transactions even more transparent.

Not only does this make life harder for terrorists and other criminals, there is a clear upside for you and your customers. Your international transactions are likely to be processed faster because your payment provider won’t need to request more detail.

And – very importantly – your financial institution is protected from regulatory risk and reputation damage that could affect your bottom line.

Sometimes in life, going just a simple step further makes all the difference in the world. 

This is one of those times.