Our company has performed audits for community banks for over 15 years specializing in the areas listed below.  Our goal is to provide very detailed and customized audit reports that address the regulatory or risk-based threats related to each area.  One of the major differences in our reports from others is that we try to insure it is written in a way that is easily understood by management.  We also provide sample policies, procedures or recommendations on how to correct any deficiency as part of the program.  Our goal is to work as your partner and insure there are no surprises or “gotcha’s” in the final reports.  

• Information Technology (IT) Audits

  This audit is designed to satisfy the IT audit requirements and comply with the FFIEC guidelines for community banks.  As part of the service, we provide recommendations, policies or other assistance to address any concerns that may help improve the institution’s oversight and operations.  Our company gives you access to our extensive operational background for over 30 years in this industry specializing in the IT and operations field and experience that comes from serving as COO for a large community bank.  By serving as an external IT auditor and also working as a COO, we have that unique advantage to know what examiners are looking for and understand the banker's challenges to meet all expectations.

   

• Annual ACH Audit

  We have been performing this required annual audit for many institutions for over 10 years.  Our in-bank experience and AAP (Accredited ACH Professional) credentials give us hands-on knowledge of the ACH service on the regulatory, technical and managerial levels that cannot be matched in the marketplace.  We do provide sample policies, procedures, risk assessments as needed to address any deficiency that may be identified.  The audit also includes a certification statement that can be provided to NACHA or regulatory body to state that the annual audit was completed following the Appendix Eight requirements of the ACH RULES book. 

• Bank Secrecy Act Audit

• This review looks at the institution’s program to insure compliance with the BSA or Patriot Act requirements.  The areas that we include generally will include the following items:

o    Review of BSA/AML policies and management oversight

o    Review of CIP policy, risk assessment and compliance

o    Review of procedure to monitor and detect CTR transactions, including aggregation of transactions

o    Review of CTRs, SARs and Exemptions

o    Review of Monetary Logs and WTF procedures

o    Review of OFAC compliance procedures

o    Review of FinCEN compliance procedures

o    Review of customer notices

o    Review of ongoing training for compliance

o    Review of BSA Officer and management reports

o    Review of 3^rd party agreements related to BSA and Patriot Act

o    Review of recordkeeping of BSA documents 

• CATO (Corporate Account Take-Overs)

• Security threats have increased dramatically over the past several years where cyber thieves gain control of a business’ bank account by stealing employee password and other valid credentials.  Fraudulent wire and ACH transactions are then sent to account controlled by the thieves.  This creates financial, security, reputation and customer relationship risks for SECURITY Bank whenever one of its customer’s is targeted by these attempts.  These types of fraudulent attempts are generally referred to as a Corporate Account Takeover, or CATO. 

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• Regulatory advisories have been issued to establish minimum efforts as well as recommended “best practices” that should be incorporated into a fraud prevention program related to the electronic banking services.  These efforts should focus on the high risk customers, types of accounts and services (such as wire transfers and ACH originations) using available and reasonable tools or procedures by the bank.  Our review includes the specific items that were to be addressed by member institutions according to the FFIEC and the Texas Department of Banking guidelines. 

• Wire Transfer Audit

  This banking service represents a high-risk activity that includes specific security and documentation procedures to address fraud and regulatory requirements.  This audit examines the policies, procedures and documentation related to this function.  It includes a review of FedAdvantage (or any other application) security settings, the transmission, review and approval of requests as well as compliance with OFAC and documentation need. 

• Internet Banking or Mobile Banking Audit

  This service can be customized to address the specific need of the institution.  It can include compliance of the marketing site, security and processing policies and procedures for the Internet Banking site, or any specific features such as Cash Management, Bill-Pay, Mobile Deposit or Remote Deposit Capture.

OTHER SERVICES

These services have also been offered to address a specific need.  All of these engagements are customized to meet the specific challenge or need that is facing the bank’s management. 

• Core Provider RFP and Evaluations

  We are very familiar with many of the core or auxiliary service providers and can help draft a Request For Proposal and analyze competitive bids based on costs, features and deliverables for the bank’s management.  Our services are totally customizable as to the specific needs or desired by the bank. 

• Training

  We have conducted numerous training sessions on a wide variety of operational topics.  We can conduct training for task-specific roles, operational regulatory or technology and fraud prevention issues.  We have been an instructor or presenter for IBAT, TBA, SWGBS, Texas Tech School of Banking and many other national banking organizations.  We can also develop customized and branded programs if needed.

   

• Policies & Risk Assessment

  We have developed policies and risk assessments covering most operational or IT related functions which can be customized as needed.  We also have a vendor management program for the annual due diligence for this important task.

   

• IT/Communications Inventory & Cost Analysis

  We offer a service where we can review all your IT and communications equipment (including phone, fax, data and internet connections) to evaluate obsolete, unnecessary or poorly designed system issues.  This often will result in a recommendation to eliminate expensive monthly line or maintenance plans which more than pay for the analysis.