ACFCS names leader of Middle Eastern banking, financial services association to Advisory Board

MIAMI - May 23, 2013 - PRLog -- The Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists, the member organization that offers certification, training, news, resources, community and conferences to its worldwide membership of private and public sector professionals in the financial crime field, today announced the appointment of a leading figure in the Middle Eastern banking and financial services community to its Advisory Board.     Wissam Fattouh, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks, will join the ACFCS Advisory Board, on May 23, 2013.     Earlier this month, ACFCS announced completion of the seven-month process of constructing the Certified Financial Crime Specialist certification. The CFCS designation is the first certification for private and public sector specialists across the full spectrum of financial crime, including money laundering, corruption, fraud, sanctions and compliance.     Dozens of persons from around the world took the beta version of the examination and 46 of them completed successfully and became the first members of the CFCS-certified Charter Class. Specialists from 41 countries have already registered to earn the Certified Financial Crime Specialist designation. The examination is offered at more than 600 proctored testing centers worldwide.    Wissam Fattouh    The newest member of the ACFCS Advisory Board, Wissam Fattouh is Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks. He leads the largest banking consortium in the region and sole representative of the Arab banking community, which aims to develop and advance the banking and financial markets, and exchange expertise with international counterparts. He has an extensive 20-year background and considerable expertise in Arab and international banking and financial sectors. Previously, he served as the Deputy Secretary General at UAB, as well as Manager of Databank & Information Technology. He gained a worldwide channel of communication through organizing international, regional and local conferences on banking and financial matters in cooperation with the US Department of the Treasury, World Bank, IMF, FATF, United Nations Security Council and European banking federation. (Full biographical information about Mr. Fattouh is found at ACFCS.org/Advisory Board)    ACFCS embraces many disciplines, as do Advisory Board members     "Just as ACFCS embraces the entire financial crime spectrum, including anti-money laundering which is a component of every financial crime, our Advisory Board embraces many disciplines, geographies and organizations that populate the entire field," said Intriago.     “We are proud to welcome Mr. Fattouh to the Advisory Board and to be able to count on his guidance in the activities of ACFCS throughout the world. ACFCS is growing rapidly across industries and the globe. The guidance of the top experts on the Advisory Board helps ACFCS to provide first-class training, content and guidance to our members and the global financial crime community," he added.    "Financial crime touches every industry and does not respect national borders. That’s why ACFCS is bringing a new approach to attacking financial crime to all continents and welcomes members from all countries,” added Intriago.     Advisory Board guides ACFCS in many ways    The Advisory Board guides the ACFCS management in its various services to its members and financial crime professionals worldwide, including content, training, certification and forums. The membership of ACFCS includes professionals who work in financial institution compliance, anti-money-laundering, FCPA, fraud, regulation, private and public sector Financial Intelligence Units, attorneys, forensic accountants, investigators, asset recovery specialists and others.     Advisory Board members played a critical and ongoing role in the construction of the CFCS certification. Many board members assisted in defining the scope of the certification and in reviewing questions for the certification examination. They continue to be involved in the first stages of the global implementation of the certification.     ACFCS was founded in January 2012 by Charles Intriago, a former federal prosecutor who also founded the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) in 2001, with which he is no longer affiliated. His launch in 1989 of the publication, Money Laundering Alert, was instrumental in creating the money laundering control industry around the world.    (Members of the media may obtain press credentials to cover the conference by contacting Brian Kindle at 786-517-2720 or bkindle@ACFCS.org.)