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Survey: International regulations top priority for Latin American bankers in 2006FELABAN conference attendees identify compliance with Basel II, USA PATRIOT ActCARY, N.C. (Dec. 05, 2005) – Results from a survey of attendees at the FELABAN Annual Assembly, a conference of senior international bankers organized by the Florida International Banking Association (FIBA) and held in Miami, indicate that compliance with international financial regulations such as Basel II and USA PATRIOT Act will continue to be the top priority for financial institutions in Latin America during 2006, just as they were in 2005. The survey of more than 100 representatives from financial institutions in Latin America, the United States and Europe was conducted by SAS, the leader in business intelligence, during the two-day conference on Nov. 21-22 to assess opinions regarding current and future banking trends in Latin America. “In a time of increased security, compliance with regulations is a greater reality of businessfor financial institutions in Latin America,” said Robert Mercer, SAS Director General, Latin America and the Caribbean. “When faced with international mandates, banks have a choice: They can spend the time and money to simply comply or they can use their efforts to create a competitive advantage. Increasingly, SAS is helping customers employ the latter strategy, moving far beyond basic compliance to an integrated enterprise risk management platform.” When questioned about the effectiveness of Basel II and the USA PATRIOT Act regulations, 88 percent believed that the regulations have improved the accounting accuracy of financial institutions in Latin America. In conjunction with this belief, 36 percent of respondents also agreed that financial entities are finding themselves under a regulatory microscope, accountable for any illegal financial activity that happens on their watch. Aligning with these financial regulations, 24 percent said anti-money laundering has been the biggest priority for their financial institutions in 2005, while 17 percent said anti-money laundering will be the priority of their financial institutions in 2006. At the same time, 90 percent of respondents have implemented systems for anti-money laundering and 72 percent have implemented systems for fraud detection. Of those respondents who have not implemented these practices, 80 percent plan to implement anti-money laundering systems in 2006 and 70 percent plan to implement fraud detection and prevention systems in 2006. An additional area of concern among Latin American financial institutions is capturing the flow of remittances, with 17 percent identifying it as being a major priority for 2006. In attempt to track remittances, 57 percent of respondents have implemented a customer database, and 40 percent plan to implement a database in 2006.
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