Federal regulators issued a joint interagency statement describing how BSA resources can be shared through the use of "collaborative arrangements".
Federal regulators issued a joint interagency statement on October 3, 2018, permitting certain community banks and credit unions to share Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) resources through the use of "collaborative arrangements."
The statement, the Interagency Statement on Sharing Bank Secrecy Act Resources, specifies that collaborative arrangements are most suitable to community banks and credit unions, as they have "less complex operations, and lower-risk profiles for money laundering or terrorist financing."
The statement acknowledges that by using shared resources in a "collaborative arrangement" to manage certain BSA/ Anti-Money Laundering (AML) obligations, banks and credit unions can benefit from enhanced access to specialized expertise, reduced costs in managing the risk of illicit finance, and overall manage certain BSA/AML obligations more efficiently and effectively.
The statement sets forth certain BSA activities that shared resources can support within the internal control function, such as the following: