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May 14, 2010
Categories: BSA

NCUA Agenda Available - SAFE ACT!; SAR Activity Review; NCUA Town Hall Meeting; The Strength Behind the Strong

Posted by Anthony Demangone

Happy Friday, everyone.  Here's some compliance news and happenings for your general consumption.

SAFE Act.  The agenda for next week's NCUA board meeting is available.  Guess what is on the agenda?  The SAFE Act!  Remember, you'll have six months to register your underwriters once the registration system is open.  If NCUA's board approves the final rule next Thursday, that does not mean the system is open, so it won't start the six month registration countdown.

SAR Activity Review.  FinCEN has released the latest edition of The SAR Activity Review: Trends, Tips and Issues.   The latest issue centers on casinos.  This might lead you to think this issue is not at all useful.  Well, you're sort of right - but not completely.  The edition contains, as it always does, overviews of law enforcement cases that were helped by BSA filings.  In addition, there's a fascinating discussion of the type of money laundering that takes place at casinos.  That article is a very vivid reminder that people do try to launder money, and lengths they will go to. For example:

Casinos see individuals "((b)uying chips with cash, casino credit, credit card advances, wired funds or funds withdrawn from safekeeping accounts, but playing minimally or not playing at all. The subjects then cashed out the chips or left the casino with unredeemed chips.) SAR Activity Review, p. 11.

This issue also has a nice article that shows how your credit union could benefit from another related publication: the SAR Activity Review: By the Numbers.

NCUA Virtual Town Hall.   NCUA Chair Debbie Matz will host a Virtual NCUA Town Hall Meeting on June 28.  She'll discuss current issues at NCUA and take questions from participants.  

The Strength Behind The Strong.   My cousin Christine (whom I love dearly), had eight family members, including her husband, do overseas tours while serving in the U.S. military.  Her husband has served in Iraq twice.  Her father (my Uncle Jim) served in Vietnam while Christine was just a baby.  In short, Christine knows how military service can affect the family members who stay stateside. 

Typical Christine - she did something about.  She created a website that supports those who support our troops. The name of the website says it all - The Strength Behind The Strong.   In Christine's words:
The Strength Behind the Strong will spotlight imaginative and useful ideas for Americans who have loved ones in the military. We’ll tackle everything from the practical (tips on mailing care packages) and the patriotic (how to dispose of worn-out flags) to the celebratory (welcome-home party ideas).

And she knows a thing or two about welcome home parties.  At one welcome home party for her husband Kyle, Christine spread holiday celebrations throughout the day to make up for the ones that Kyle missed.  So, according to schedule, we celebrated July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.  (All the while, celebrating through the use of Kyle's welcome home gift, a keg-erator.)  It was a wonderful party.

Credit unions and the military have a strong bond.  So I hope you don't mind this blatantly personal plug for a family member.  If you can, visit her site.  Become a "fan" of the site on Facebook.  And take advantage of her advice.  For example...

Everyone loves peanut butter blossoms - those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's Kiss on top.  But they are impossible to ship overseas without crushing them. Right?  Wrong.  You'll have to read Christine's post to learn how.

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