Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering interagency outreach events.

The federal banking and thrift institution agencies, along with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), announced on July 18, 2005, registration details for the upcoming outreach events related to the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual (BSA/AML Examination Manual) that was released on June 30, 2005. The events included

* three nationwide conference calls to be held August 2-4, 2005; and

* five regional half-day outreach meetings, including a simulcast of one of the meetings via the Internet. These meetings were held in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Miami.

Banking organizations were encouraged to participate in these voluntary sessions. The content of the events was similar. During the events, the BSA/AML Examination Manual was discussed and examination expectations were provided. There was also an opportunity to provide feedback, ask questions, and address implementation issues.

Participating in the outreach sessions was the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and FinCEN.

The BSA/AML Examination Manual emphasizes a banking organization's responsibility to establish and implement risk-based policies, procedures, and processes to comply with the BSA and safeguard its operations from money laundering and terrorist financing.

For questions on the outreach events or the BSA/ AML Examination Manual, banking organizations should contact the local office of their federal banking agency.