Jay Postma, President
Jay Postma, PresidentCertified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)
Mr. Postma has over 25 years experience in the Banking, Financial Services, and Software Development industries. At the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's New Orleans and Atlanta branches and later at MCI Telecommunications, Mr. Postma became known for his skill in turning around troubled operating departments, bringing these departments into compliance with regulatory requirements, improving productivity and customer service, and in controlling costs.
As a founding principal of Towne Services, a publicly traded provider of services and products that process sales and payment information and related financing transactions for small businesses and community banks in the United States, Mr. Postma served as Vice President, Operations. Mr. Postma was instrumental in developing the company's products and pricing strategies, and in creating the product features, requirements, and processing logic.
As a founding principal of El Banco Financial Corporation and its subsidiary El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad, Mr. Postma served as Vice President and Secretary. El Banco is a financial services company focused on providing traditional and non-traditional bank and financial services to the un-served and under-served Latino immigrant market.
Mr. Postma later served as Vice President, Division Operations Manager, and Bank Secrecy Act Officer with Flag Bank until its acquisition by RBC Centura. In this role, Mr. Postma advised executive management and the Board of Directors of increasingly stringent BSA regulatory expectations and revised, developed and implemented formal compliance policies and procedures.
Mr. Postma has significant experience working both as an employee and as an entrepreneur with banks, financial service companies, and business customers. Mr. Postma has built and reinvented Operations and Customer Service departments and managed both growing and diminishing operating departments.
Mr. Postma holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Additionally, Mr. Postma has achieved recognition as a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) through the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).
Ken Bryant, EVP
Kenneth L. Bryant, EVPStrategic Partner & Senior BSA/AML Compliance Specialist
Mr. Bryant has more than twenty years senior management experience both in the United States and Overseas as a money laundering investigator, compliance officer/money laundering reporting officer, enforcement regulator and a counter terrorism and counter narcotics consultant. He has been awarded a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice, summa cum laude, and holds or has held eight board certifications covering the areas of risk management, financial due diligence, financial operations, regulatory compliance, and anti-money laundering.
For the past several years, Mr. Bryant has served as a consultant and lead senior Subject Matter Expert (SME) on large bank (both foreign and domestic) remediations, usually where there is regulatory enforcement action. He has been a lead consultant on two of the largest bank remediations in US history. Prior to that, Mr. Bryant served as the Director and Product Developer for KYC Outsourced Services, a Division of Internet Financial Services [IFS], Ltd. Mr. Bryant assisted Financial Services Providers (FSP's) in the Banking, Trust, Securities, Mutual Fund, Company Management and Insurance sectors. At IFS, he was responsible for product development, overseeing the provision of the due diligence investigative process, the collection and retention of compliance records, a suspicious activity reporting mechanism for FSP's and the training of FSP's employees on anti-money laundering techniques and practices. Mr. Bryant is a former Senior Manager, Regulatory Compliance, for KPMG in the Cayman Islands where he was responsible for establishing the first dedicated regulatory compliance consulting practice on the island. During that time, Mr. Bryant was seconded to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) to assist in the establishment of their Compliance (Enforcement) Division. In that capacity, Mr. Bryant routinely liaised with each of the Industry Sector Divisions, as well as with Legal, Policy and Research and the Financial Reporting Unit (FRU). Mr. Bryant was directly involved in the process which resulted in the FATF officially removing the Cayman Islands from Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCT) status, commonly referred to as the "Black List."
Prior to joining KPMG, Mr. Bryant was a Senior Consultant to Ambassador Morris D. Busby (former Ambassador at Large for Counter Terrorism and US Counter Terrorism Coordinator) in Washington, D.C., specializing in global Counter Terrorism and Narcotics issues, two of the most influential driving forces in the international Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) effort today. Mr. Bryant has also held five Corporate and Financial Compliance Officer/MLRO roles in which he was responsible for designing, writing, implementing, administering and monitoring effective compliance programs for multi-national corporations with substantial interests overseas. In addition to being a former investigator and consultant with the U.S. Government, he was also a Consultant with Plave, Goldberg & Manten, an international forensic financial fraud investigation and litigation support firm specializing in AML. During this time, one of the projects Mr. Bryant was involved in included the detection, investigation, and prevention of Money Laundering for a major offshore international banking centre in the Caribbean. As a Chief Fraud Investigator for Washington Mutual, one of the largest financial institutions in the U.S., he successfully investigated all internal and external losses in South Florida, considered by some to be the fraud capital of the world, ranging from government medical assistance fraud to embezzlement to Money Laundering. Mr. Bryant is also the former global Manager of the Special Investigations (Financial Fraud and White Collar Crime) Division of Pinkerton/Securitas, the largest investigative services firm in the world.
Mr. Bryant is a subject matter expert with respect to U.S. and International banking laws, rules and regulations, audit and examination codes and guidelines for best practice techniques concerning anti-money laundering, know your customer/enhanced due diligence, training, record keeping, and suspicious activity recognition and reporting. He is a frequent presenter and lecturer on AML/CFT Legislation, Regulation and Guidance Notes; regular media guest and author/contributor to international programs and articles on offshore finance and global AML issues, international standards and industry best practices; and has worked closely with the authors of the "Review of Financial Regulation in the Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda" as presented to United Kingdom Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (formerly known as the original Overseas KPMG Report), and with the authors of the Cayman Islands financial services Legislation, Regulation, and the Guidance Notes, which is considered by some to be one of the strongest and best practice anti-money laundering regimes in the world.
Mr. Bryant has been the developer of the AML Intelligence Bulletin, the Intelligence Watch List Database of known high risk individuals and entities, the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Self-Audit Checklist tool, the Compliance Bulletin, various on-line computer based training (CBT) and compliance professional development tools, and the Regulatory Compliance Forum, of which he is also the Moderator. He has extensive experience in writing compliance policy and procedure manuals; developing and presenting AML training programs for target audiences which are both general and industry sector specific; conducting AML reviews; tailoring and implementing due diligence checklists; designing retrospective due diligence programs and risk assessments; and integrating IT managed solutions for compliance and due diligence acquisition and record keeping. He is considered by many to be the first and one of the foremost knowledgeable experts in the creation and maintenance of high risk databases using open source information on a global basis. Mr. Bryant was also the first proponent to develop a working Electronic KYC (eKYC) model and has been the original creator behind the idea of an International Registry of Due Diligence Documentation, a similar version of which has now been called for and created by the Wolfsberg Group and supported by the Basel Committee. Mr. Bryant has also played a recent active role in calling for various agencies of the U.S. Government, the European Union, and Interpol to more effectively consolidate and disseminate official sanction and wanted lists.
Mr. Bryant has also provided technical training assistance to the Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering Programme (CALP), the Financial Reporting Unit (FRU)/Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and the Commercial Crime Branch (CCB) of the Royal Cayman Islands Police (RCIP). He has also presented and published widely on the new International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank AML/CFT Review Methodology. Mr. Bryant has served as an advisor to the Commissioner of Police and the "Top Management Team" of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service during a recent IMF/World Bank Review of the Cayman Islands in September 2003. The Cayman Islands represent the largest offshore financial jurisdiction in the world and are ranked as the fifth largest financial jurisdiction overall after New York, London, Hong Kong and Toyko.
Mr. Bryant is a Fellow and the former Chairman of the Eastern Seaboard of the Americas Region (Latin America and the Caribbean) for The Compliance Institute, the oldest and largest association of compliance professionals in the world. He is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association (ICA), and holds two internationally accredited university level diplomas, one in AML and the other in Compliance. Mr. Bryant is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and Professional Charter Member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists and has served on their Certification, Education, and Technology Task Forces. He has been a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Protection Professional, Certified Risk Professional and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Professional. Mr. Bryant was also a founding participant in the International Association of Integrity Management (IAIM), an international body whose mission was to set standards for professional compliance associations worldwide. As a member of the Training and Accreditation Committee, the first mandate has been to develop an internationally accepted and standardized professional certification and code of ethics. Mr. Bryant has recently co-founded a Best Practices and Industry Standards Group for the US Financial Services Industry, through which he chairs the Steering Committee of the Council of Standards and Practices for the National Money Transmitters Association (NMTA).
Mr. Bryant is well known on the domestic and international AML speaking circuit and is consistently rated by conference attendees as a "passionate," "dynamic," and "engaging" speaker who delivers step by step practical solutions to complex compliance issues. He advises governments, international bodies, regulatory agencies, financial institutions, consulting firms, and AML vendors on a global basis.
To learn more about Mr. Bryant's education, experience and training please see www.AMLCFT.com.
Karen Bitler, BSA/AML Compliance Specialist
Karen E. BitlerBSA/AML Compliance Specialist
Mrs. Bitler has over 25 years experience in the Banking and Financial Services industry. She began her career at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as a liquidator of insolvent financial institutions. She left the FDIC to work with a large regional bank where she was responsible for compliance auditing. Through these and later positions, Mrs. Bitler developed her talent and reputation for Compliance and Operations Risk Management. She is a hands on detail oriented leader with significant experience in mitigating regulatory compliance and operations risks.
As an Office of Thrift Supervision Examiner, Ms. Bitler performed numerous Safety & Soundness examinations. She later left to work directly with the Resolution Trust Corporation where as an Investigator, she was responsible for working directly with legal counsel investigating causes of insolvency and identifying culpable parties for potential civil action.
Mrs. Bitler has a unique blend of practical business and regulatory knowledge that has served her employers and customers well. She has been a significant contributor managing regulatory compliance, credit and operating risk at GE Consumer Finance, Inc. (North America), RBS Lynk and ING Insurance Americas. At each company, Mrs. Bitler developed, implemented, improved, and managed procedures to comply with the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act, Sarbanes Oxley and Graham-Leach Bliley Act. While working at Bank of America and SunTrust, Ms. Bitler managed credit risk.
During her tenure as the Head of Security and Anti-Fraud Officer at ING Insurance Americas, Mrs. Bitler piloted and successfully delivered an Anti-Fraud program that was recognized globally as best in class. In various capacities, she has developed and delivered training seminars regarding Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering, USA Patriot Act and Graham-Leach Bliley Act compliance requirements.
In 1995, Mrs. Bitler was asked to speak as an expert before the United States House of Representatives, House Banking Sub-Committee for the Oversight of the Resolution Trust Corporation about her role as an Investigator and her findings and recommendations. Her testimony was centered on the reasons for the demise of the Savings and Loans she investigated and resulting professional liability lawsuits where she assisted legal counsel.
Mrs. Bitler holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Virginia Wesleyan College. She achieved Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification at GE Consumer Finance, Inc. in 1999 and holds an Able Toastmaster designation since 1994. Ms. Bitler is currently working to earn her Certified Anti-Money Laundering and Certified Fraud Examiner designations.
Idalisa Nicastro, BSA/AML Compliance Specialist
Idalisa “Lisa” Nicastro BSA/AML Compliance Specialist
Ms. Nicastro has over 20 years of service to the financial services industry as a bank examiner working with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Bilingual in speaking both English and Spanish, Ms. Nicastro’s extensive experience uniquely qualifies her to perform independent BSA/AML reviews of regulated financial institutions.
For the past ten years, Ms. Nicastro was primarily engaged in bank Safety and Soundness compliance examinations, which consisted of evaluating the financial condition of State Non-Member banks, evaluating bank management, and the bank’s compliance with applicable State and Federal laws and regulations. She has performed numerous Bank Secrecy Act examinations and assisted management of large and small institutions to better understand the applicable laws, regulations and effective implementation thereof.
Ms. Nicastro is also well versed in problem bank loan portfolio reviews, workouts, and collections; and, the packaging of both performing and non-performing loan portfolios for sale.
Ms. Nicastro has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Ms. Nicastro has completed numerous courses from the Institute of Internal Auditors, Inc.
Our depth of relationships allows us to bring additional qualified consultants into projects as necessary and appropriate.