MTRA’s 2004 Annual Conference kicked off on September 13th in Denver, Colorado, with a record number of regulators and industry officials attending. More than 200 regulators and industry officials participated, representing 28 states and over 100 companies. In addition, the conference was attended by representatives of the federal government and a delegation of regulators from Mexico. The conference included an examiners school, separate meetings of regulators and industry and a vast number of presentations open to both regulators and industry representatives.
This year’s theme was entitled “Scaling New Heights: A Cooperative Approach to State Regulation” and the program provided an atmosphere designed to facilitate networking and exchange between both industry and regulators. Attendees were fortunate to have a number of distinguished speakers provide perspectives on topics such as global money transfers, anti -money laundering detection techniques and the importance of an independent audit in an anti-money laundering program, FinCEN’s and IRS roles in implementation of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and safety and soundness issues.
MTRA members conducted annual business meetings and roundtable sessions on Monday morning and a successful Regulators School in the afternoon. The examiners school concentrated on BSA Implementation and Agent Monitoring. Regulators from Mexico and US federal government officials met with state regulators and discussed various issues relating to the BSA and the Patriot Act. Industry representatives conducted meetings during the afternoon moderated by Jorge Guerrero of Vigo Remittance and Ezra Levine, Partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Howrey Simon Arnold & White. The reception to open the conference was held Monday evening and well attended.
On Tuesday morning, MTRA President J. Philip Goddard of Indiana opened the conference, and the participants were welcomed by Commissioner Richard Fulkerson, Colorado Division of Banking Denver, CO. The keynote speaker was Christina Gold, President of Western Union Financial Services, Inc who addressed the drivers behind the domestic and international money transfer business and the important strategic opportunities and issues her company and the industry are facing today. William J. Fox, Director of FinCEN, US Treasury and Maureen Sanders, National Program Manager, Anti-Money Laundering Program, Internal Revenue Service talked about state and federal cooperation in combating money laundering. Jerry LiVigni of the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control spoke on the benefit of working together with the states. Abdusalam Omer, Programme Manager, Governance & Financial Services, United Nations Program Somalia presented an update on the challenges and success of international money transfers in Somalia in the absence of central government. Carol Van Cleef, Esq, Partner Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman Washington, DC moderated a panel that provided an insight into the failure of Cash Point. Bert Gonzales of Texas moderated a panel of state regulators who unveiled a joint examination program to be implemented by MTRA member states, and Ezra Levine, Partner Howrey Simon Arnold & White Washington DC entertained the audience with a discussion of regulatory and legislative challenges. The conference ended on Wednesday afternoon.
Each year the conference enjoys the support of both regulators and industry participants and has the distinction of providing respected speakers with diverse perspectives on the industry and its activities. This year the conference attracted a record number of attendees, excellent speakers and was very successful from all angles. Here are some of the comments from evaluation forms: Great diversity in the program… MTRA did a great job dealing with the expanded level of industry and regulatory attendees…well organized…thank you for having excellent speakers and good topics.