Syllabus

About the lecturer:  Bojidar Archinkov, PhD UNI BIT, Sofia, MBA University of Sheffield, CAMS/AML, was a credit correspondent for The Dun&Bradstreet including business supervisor for Bulgaria, Albania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Macedonia and Serbia for eight years. Archinkov was Country Manager in Bank Leumi, Romania appointed to establish a bank branch in Sofia utilizing the principle of a “single bank passport”. From 2009 till 2014 he was involved in completing NLB dd, Slovenia divestment strategy as related to Bulgaria and establishment of TBI Bank, where he was raised to Chairman of the Management Board and Executive Director. Bojidar can be contacted via emails: bojidar@pravitel.org and bojidar887@gmail.com

DESCRIPTION

Existences of economic and financial crime produce political, legal and human rights problems. Almost every country on the planet has some form of corruption, bribery and money laundering. These economic and financial crimes undermine business growth and political stability; lead to efficiency losses; and impede access to resources such as credit or public health; and ultimately reduce governance credibility and effectiveness.

While the expressions governance and corporate governance are widely used, there are varieties in applications, processes, structures and information used for directing and overseeing the management of an organization. The simplest and least ambiguous definition of governance provided by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) define governance as “… the system by which entities are directed and controlled … the structure through which the objectives of the company are set, and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance are determined.” This unit examines corporate governance as enterprise-wide risk assessment and risk management. Whatever the geographic, social or political environment within which an organization operates, responsibility for effective and efficient governance rests with the board. While a board cannot delegate this responsibility, it is a board to decide on manner and scope in supervising every aspect of an organization’s operations.

Unit presents a pragmatic approach to the concept of “moral hazard” and its relevance to the corporate governance. Frequently it is very difficult to prove the “knowledge” and the “intent” when taking the risks. In a number of jurisdictions, the term “willful blindness” is a legal principle that operates in money laundering cases. Sanctions imposed by regulators and governmental authorities influence many decisions into contemporary organizations. Corporate governance should address administrative efficiency, should improve managerial effectiveness, even the audit process should aim to produce competitive advantages.

The main focus of this unit presents compliance standards related to prevention of money laundering, to combat terrorist financing, anti-bribery, fraud and corruption. Contemporary development in Information technologies offers reasonable software solutions providing businesses with an event-driven system for fraud and money laundering deterrence. This unit describes methodology to assess software effectiveness and criteria

on which an organization may decide when choosing the type of solution is best suited to their purpose and business practice.

It is a lecturer guided educational journey. The journey departs from objectives of the Managerial Board, examines economic and financial crime typologies, observes local and extraterritorial reach of some legislations, teaches what to do when the investigator or prosecutor is at the door and hopefully enable students not just to acquire subject knowledge but to understand, use and apply it within the context of their wider learning and life.

AIMS

This Program aims to recognize the relationships between regulatory environment, business objectives, organizational responses and managerial practices. Among other, the aim is also to demonstrate role of the corporate governance in building competitive advantage and to locate the role of regulatory compliance in the change process of an organization; in addition to provide sufficient understanding of a range of methods and techniques for good corporate governance, and finally to enable practical diagnosis and problem solving as related to economic and financial crime situations.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the unit, a student will be able to:

  • Recognize the relationships between business objectives, regulatory environment, organizational responses and managerial practices.
  • Understand international standards for the detection and prevention of fraud, bribery and corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing and the strategies and practices required to meet them.
  • Understand the process of building good corporate governance when detecting and preventing economic and financial crime.
  • Understand and articulate key aspects of the systems approach to regulatory compliance and locate the role of good corporate governance in systemically desirable change.
  • Identify the key tenets of event-based Information Systems, investigate purchase or development decisions for fraud and money laundering deterrence software.
  • Understand and apply regulatory compliance in building corporate advantages.

The course is designed to advance the professional knowledge, skills and experience of those dedicated to the detection and prevention of fraud, bribery, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing, promote the development and implementation of sound corporate governance policies and procedures and prepare eligible candidates to sit

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

The unit is suitable for students who aim realization, or experienced professionals, who need broader view, when working as: Anti-Money Laundering Officers (MLROs), Financial Crime Managers, Compliance Officers, Government Regulators, Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agents, Internal and External Auditors, Intelligence Officers, Risk Management Specialists, Attorneys and Certified Public Accountants, Investment Advisors, Real Estate Compliance Specialists and Consultants. The greatest impact of this course will effect students and professionals working in banking; government; tax administration; securities broker and dealers; money services businesses; insurance; accounting and law firms; casinos and gaming organizations; credit, debit and pre-paid card companies; real estate agencies; and jewelry and precious metals dealers.

TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS

The course has been designed as a balanced mixture of lectures, case studies, video presentation, group discussions and workshops.

ASSESSMENT METHOD

Coursework 50%
Formal examination 50%

OUTLINE

Theme One  Corporate governance

Session 1. Understanding the regulatory environment.

Session 2. The relevance of good corporate governance; developments in audits and supervisory activities; methods and purposes for analyzing managerial decisions.

Session 3. Definition of economic and financial crimes. Risks, methods and techniques related to the detection and prevention of fraud, bribery and corruption.

Theme Two Risks and methods of money laundering and terrorist financing

Session 4. The Economic and social consequences of money laundering

Session 5. Money laundering risks associated with financial institutions.

Session 6. Money laundering risks associated with non-financial institutions, new technologies and off-shore zones.

Session 7. Combating the financing of terrorism

Theme Three Compliance standards for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism

Session 8. The conventions of the United Nations, Financial Action Task Force recommendations and European Union directives on money laundering

Session 9. The role and activities of supra national bodies: the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, The Wolfsberg Group, The Basel Committee, The World Bank and The International Monetary Fund.

Session 10. Key regulatory initiatives and the extraterritorial reach of the legislation of the United States of America: The Patriot Act of 2001, The Sarbanes–Oxley Act 2002, The Dodd–Frank Act 2010.

Theme Four Organizational structure, internal documents and audits

Session 11. Assessing risk and developing a risk scoring model

Session 12. Building a compliance program

Session 13. Compliance culture and senior management’s role

Session 14. Internal audits, internal investigations and controls

Theme Five  Interactions with law enforcement authorities

Session 15. Sanctions

Session 16. Responding to law enforcement investigations

Session 17. Action plan for dealing with investigators and prosecutors

Theme Six Fraud and money laundering deterrence software

Session 18. Information and organizational processes – diagnosis of “problematic situations”.

Session 19. Effectiveness of fraud and money laundering deterrence software.

Session 20. Selecting or developing your software.

Session 21. Unit in summary: risks, methods, biases and behaviors.

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS

du Plessis J.J., Hargovan A., Bagaric M., (2010) Principles of Contemporary Corporate Governance Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition.

McCann H., (2006) Offshore Finance Publisher: Cambridge University Press.

Spencer-Pickett K.H., Pickett J.M. (2002) Financial Crime Investigation and Control Publisher: Wiley.

Turner J., (2011) Money Laundering Prevention: Deterring, Detecting, and Resolving Financial Fraud Publisher: Wiley.

LIST OF REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 174) http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/documents/instruments_en.asp

Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 173) http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/documents/instruments_en.asp

DIRECTIVE 2005/60/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2005L0060:20080320:en:PDF

Draft EU COMMISSION DIRECTIVE laying down implementing measures for Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and the Council as regards the definition of “politically exposed person” and the technical criteria for simplified customer due diligence procedures and for exemption on grounds of a financial activity conducted on an occasional or very limited basis http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/company/docs/financial-crime/doc_06_may_03_en.pdf

International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation – the FATF Recommendations, Paris, 16 February 2012, www.fatf-gafi.org/recommendations

Rule No. 1327 of 10 January 2011 on awareness and prevention of fraud and corruption, http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/cdcj/whistleblowers/Rule_1327_110110_en.pdf

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT ACT) OF 2001, USA PUBLIC LAW 107–56—OCT. 26, 2001 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ56/pdf/PLAW-107publ56.pdf

USA Sarbanes–Oxley Act: An Act To protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes. PUBLIC LAW 107–204—JULY 30, 2002 116 STAT. 745 http://www.sec.gov/about/laws/soa2002.pdf