Submitting your assignment

1. Please collate your assignment as a single document in a Microsoft Word format.

2. Save the assignment as your candidate ID number, e.g. CON-000123456.

3. All marking is anonymous, which means your name should not appear on your work.

4. You must state which region/jurisdiction you are from in the header of each page.

5. You must ensure that all your work is properly referenced.

6. Penalties will be applied to those candidates who submit their assignment after the due date.

Word count

7. The total word count for this assignment should be between 2,000 and 2,500 words. This includes all in text references and appendices but excludes any footnotes, reference page or contents page. N.B. Appendices should only be used in exceptional circumstances and should consist of only brief extracts or tables.

8. The number of words per question should reflect the number of marks allocated.

9. Penalties will be applied for excessive overall word count.

All parts of the question can be answered in relation to a jurisdiction with which you are familiar.

Where a specific jurisdiction has been selected, this should be clearly stated in your answer.

Answer all parts of the question.

Question

Olivia is a director and money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) of NRO Bank, a small local bank based in a jurisdiction of your choice. She is responsible for a number of areas of the Bank's operations, including the Human Resources division and New Business Acquisition, as well as bearing the AML responsibilities.

Olivia has a strong personality and is trusted by the Bank's board, who rely on her to get things done. She is rarely challenged by other members of the board or other staff members.

The Bank has recently been the subject of a regulatory visit and the report that followed has been highly critical of both the board and the MLRO. Key criticisms included the following failings.

A failure on the part of the MLRO to process internal suspicious activity reports (SARs)/suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and externalise them to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) (26 in total, with some as old as 18 months).

The MLRO deliberately misled the board into believing that money laundering was not a significant issue within the Bank. She deliberately failed to notify the board that internal SARs had been made.

The board of the Bank failed to meet regularly and did not monitor the internal AML reporting system and processes.

The MLRO was an extremely powerful individual and deemed unapproachable by members of staff.

The Bank prioritised business development over compliance.

From a corporate governance perspective, it was inappropriate for Olivia to control so many other areas of the Bank's operations while also carrying out the MLRO role.

Q) Under the local anti money laundering laws and regulations, have the MLRO and the Bank committed any criminal offences? Outline the key provisions of the law that may have been breached.