ACAMS Philippine Chapter meeting of September 24, 2018

Jay Postma, CAMS, CFCS, President of MSB Compliance Inc. was pleased to attend the Manilla, Philippines Chapter of ACAMS September 2018 meeting.  The chapter learning event was titled: "ACAMS Philippine Chapter Training Event: Strengthening the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Program of Money Service Businesses (MSBs)."

The event was very well attended and included two presentations:

“Emerging AML/CTF Compliance Obligations of MSBs in the Philippines”

A Practical Approach in Meeting AML/CTF Compliance Obligations of MSBs under BSP Circular 942 Amendment to Section 4511N of the Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions

“Developing Transaction Monitoring Program of MSBs”

• Trends/Typologies using MSBs
• Transaction Monitoring Tools

Speakers:

Ms. Maureen Gonzalez, CAMS
former AML Compliance Director
Western Union
ACAMS Philippine Chapter Co-Programming Head

Maureen Gonzalez is currently the Assistance Vice-President and Head of Agency Compliance & Relations of Manulife Philippines. Prior to joining Manulife in December of last year, she was the AML Compliance Director for Southeast Asia of Western Union. Maureen has over 15 years of work experience in the field of AML Compliance, risk management, and auditing. She also obtained various local and global certifications in the field of Auditing, Risk Management, and AML Compliance specifically as a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. She also obtained an Accreditation in Quality Assessment/Validation of the Internal Audit Activity from the Institute of Internal Auditors in the Philippines. She is also one of the founding members and a member of the Board of Trustees of the ACAMS Philippines Chapter.

Mr. Johnny V. Ramos, Jr.
Financial Intelligence and Analysis Group (FIAG)
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Secretariat

Mr. Johnny Ramos is head of the Covered Transaction Report Analysis Staff of the Detection and Prevention Department of the Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat, mainly responsible for providing proactive financial intelligence analysis, identification and analysis of profile and transactions of subjects of interest based on the system-generated alerts, typologies development, and review of data elements and current developments on money laundering activities.
Prior to joining the Secretariat, he was a bank examiner of the Supervision and Examination Sector, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, with extensive involvement in the regular and special AML/CFT examinations of Banks and Money Services Businesses.
He is a certified public accountant and has worked as internal auditor of the Prudential Bank and Trust Company and Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Mr. Ramos took up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy at the Far Eastern University. He obtained his Master in Management major in Business Management at the University of the Philippines – Manila.

It was a pleasure meeting Ms. Gonzalez and Mr. Ramos at the event along with other members of the financial services community attending.