Money Service Businesses - Bank Discontinuance

Millions of Americans are served by Money Service Businesses such as financial service centers, money transmitters, and even your local post office. But in recent years, an increasing number of banks have ended the accounts of their Money Service Business (MSB) customers, affecting thousands of stores across the country. Some banks have even been refusing new accounts, and the number of these available depositories has been steadily shrinking.

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent enactment of the USA Patriot Act forever changed the relationship between MSBs and the banks that served them. In spite of records of compliance as good or better than most banks themselves, MSBs were deemed unacceptable risks.
But contrary to a widely held belief, MSBs are not a high risk for money laundering. In fact the industry’s Bank Security Act enforcement record is good, according to the Financial Service Centers of America, or FinCEN. Of all the civil penalties against banks and other financial institutions listed on the FinCEN website – many of them in multi-millions of dollars – only a handful have been assessed against check cashers and other MSBs.

Federal regulatory agencies have attempted to remedy this problem. It has also been addressed with bi-partisan legislation that would relieve banks of the requirement to review and monitor the compliance systems of their MSB customers, leaving regulation to Federal and State authorities.

Robert Frimet is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist with twenty-five years of experience in the Money Service Business and related areas. Bob Frimet lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Check Fraud - A Multi-Billion Dollar Problem

Check fraud is a serious problem that costs American businesses tens of billions of dollars every year. It has always been with us, but today is a cyber-crime. Anyone with a laptop, a scanner, off-the-shelf software and criminal intent can create fraudulent corporate checks that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. It only takes a few hours for high-tech criminals to create hundreds of bogus checks, once they have accessed basic corporate account data.

As a consequence of this criminal activity, American businesses take a direct hit to their bottom lines. Changes in the Uniform Commercial Code have redefined liability in corporate check fraud, so that there is more responsibility placed on the business community. And so it has never been more important for them to learn to protect themselves against the threat of check fraud.

Preventing check fraud is not as easy as it may sound, and experts say that there is no one hundred percent foolproof protection. Some of the things that businesses can do to protect themselves include:

·         Do not use pre-printed check stock. Instead, use blank check stock along with MICR laser check printing software.

·         Use strictly controlled check-printing procedures. Be sure that only those employees directly involved in the accounting process have access to check printing equipment.

·         Only use check stock with security features. Certain check stocks have security features that prevent copying or mimicking.

·         Write fewer checks. Instead, use automatic deposits or electronic funds transfers. The single most effective way to stop check fraud is to not write any checks at all. That may not be a realistic option, but reducing the number of written checks is a good start.

Robert Frimet is the owner of RMF Consulting Group in Las Vegas,Nevada. Bob is a former president of the Nevada Check Cashing Association, and also served on the National Check Cashers Association Board of Directors.

What is Compliance on Demand?

Checkcashingcompliance.com offers a solution to Money Service Businesses (MSB) who are tired of the complexity of financial regulation. Offered by the RMF Consulting Group, Inc., this service gives business a distinct advantage over their competitors by alleviating some of the most stressful components of being a MSB: compliance. How can Compliance on Demand (COD) benefit your business with real-time solutions?

Financial regulation can be overwhelming for businesses. Much of the busy work of financial departments come from keeping up with the changes and updates that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), running employees through training sessions and keeping every aspect of the business up to par with the compliances required to operate as a MSB. COD enables businesses to untie their hands from this frustrating job, by allowing experts with over 25 years of experience to help review and revise CTR’s, SAR’s and 8300’s prior to submission. 

The purpose of COD is to offer businesses the freedom to allocate resources elsewhere, without having to constantly fight the uphill battle of compliance. The founder of RMF Group, Robert Frimet, is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and has the bulk of the experience in the group. His mission for COD is to automate the compliance process of MSB’s by offering central hub that can streamline the entire system, giving businesses more breathing room to work and expand. Robert Frimet tours the nation and speaks at MSB Compliance Seminars to offer his services to MSB’s, both big and small, and hopes to change the responsibility that businesses have with harsh regulations.

Need an Audience? Write a Blog

People will advise against it, claiming that the blog space is too saturated and that no progress can be made with a personal or professional blog. And while the number of blogs have become massive, with over 42 million blogs on the WordPress platform in 2012 alone, according to blogging.org, it still serves the purpose that every blogger asks for: an audience. Whether your aim is to achieve profits through a professional service, or to let your thoughts be known on a public hub, blogs allow interested online viewers to become engaged in what you have to share.

Blogs have become increasingly easy to make, and most blogging platforms are free to use. This makes blogging an initial cakewalk. The challenge that comes to most bloggers involves increasing the number of views that it has, through strengthening your audience. Marketing techniques, online ads, or door-to-door advertising are just some of the ways that a blog can be exposed to people who would be potentially interested in your content. Find out what is right for your budget and be sure that your objective for the blog stays consistent with your marketing attempts.

Blogs have become a haven for both businesses and passionate individuals. Robert Frimet, a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, and is the founder of a consulting firm, RMF Group. To help publicize information about his services, and to bring awareness to people about financial crimes, Bob Frimet started his blog, checkcashingcompliance.com, in the hopes to make an audience to enlighten. Whatever your reason, blogs offer you the opportunity and the leverage to be heard!