TransAtlantic Bank Taps ERAS' Compliance Solution for USA PATRIOT Act, Section 314a; New Software Electronically Captures and Stores Non-Customer Transactions.

MIAMI -- ERAS, a banking software and solutions development company, has released FAST314(a), enabling financial institutions to create an electronic record of non-bank customers' transactions, as well as non-traditional transactions for bank customers, such as VISA Gift Cards, Traveler's Checks, Cashiers Check and Money Orders.

"Federal regulations are mandated to protect banks and their customers. However, staying compliant with these laws and their individual sections can be tedious and extremely time-consuming, which can have a negative impact on the bottom line," said Carlos Rodriguez, Jr., executive vice president at ERAS. "As compliance regulations evolve, they continually force financial institutions to meet shorter deadlines and fulfill more demanding requirements. ERAS software bridges the gap between financial institutions and their goals, safeguarding them from fines while ensuring peace of mind at a reasonable price."

This new addition to ERAS' suite of user-friendly compliance products was developed as a response to Section 314(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act. Under this section of the act, banks receive bi-weekly reports from FinCEN listing names of individuals suspected of engaging in money laundering. Banks have 14 days to search and submit information for any matches found. FAST314(a) enables banks to maintain, track and query the transactions of both account and non-account holders. It enables financial institutions to scan the names of both remitter and payee on all monetary exchanges against OFAC's SDN and Blocked Persons lists. Ultimately, FAST314(a) creates a log of all searches made, all matches found and all results sent to FinCEN, creating an audit trail for the institution.

"Banks are required to record and maintain all transactions, including non-bank customers, and many institutions do not have a system that can electronically capture this data," said Dominic Suszek, senior vice president and chief operations officer, TransAtlantic Bank. "With ERAS' solution, not only can we efficiently record information, but we can also quickly locate files when needed, eliminating many employee hours wasted on manual searching."

About ERAS, LLP 

Miami-based ERAS provides state-of-the-art software systems and solutions to the financial services industries. ERAS was formed for the express purpose of offering a new generation of integrated, easy to use banking software applications. ERAS also offers image item processing, payment processing, document imaging, application/site hosting and technical support services. ERAS' comprehensive imaging solution suite is made up of more than 25 modules that enable users to manage the system directly while requiring a minimum amount of technical support or intervention. ERAS' solutions provide banks with powerful browser-based, cross-platform core data processing systems and tools to help banks jumpstart profitability, improve efficiency and reduce overhead. For more information about ERAS, visit www.erasjv.com or email [e-mail].