Lea County State Bank Relies on Banker’s Toolbox Solution to Combat Money Laundering

North Hollywood, Calif., Aug. 13, 2009 – Banker’s Toolbox, a provider of software tools to help financial institutions manage anti-money laundering, fraud detection and commercial real estate stress testing, today announced that Hobbs, N.M.-based, Lea County State Bank ($225 million asset) successfully implemented Banker’s Toolbox’s Bank Secrecy Act Anti-Money Laundering Management System (BAM®).

Prior to implementing Banker’s Toolbox’s automated technology, Lea County State Bank was manually completing their Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance reporting. The motivation to change to an automated solution came after a turnover of compliance staff. With fewer staff members to handle the bank’s BSA/AML workload and complete the work in an efficient and timely manner, the need for an automated program that worked well with the bank’s core processor, Harland Financial Solutions’ Phoenix System, increased.

“What is most impressive about BAM is the information we were able to obtain – information that we didn’t even know about before,” said D’dee Sharp, senior vice president and cashier for Lea County State Bank. “BAM aggregates all of the data within our core for teller transactions, ACH and wires. We can access the system and search on different levels of criteria, which really opens our eyes to possibly illegal transactions of which we would have otherwise been unaware. Now we can see every dollar that’s going in and out of our bank.”

BAM is a complete system for monitoring and reporting suspicious financial activity that aggregates, compiles, stores and analyzes data. The system identifies high-risk activity with real-time or scheduled reporting. The platform also includes automated Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) and risk report management, giving BSA officers access to the most detailed reports available, down to individual tellers on suspicious transactions. BAM prevents bank employees from having to work overtime, while making the process faster. Its transaction monitoring and reporting tools make BSA compliance easier to attain, especially with the effective training provided by Banker’s Toolbox’s risk management consultants.

“Regulators and BSA officers agree that a bank can no longer effectively or efficiently meet BSA reporting requirements by hand,” said Daniel Cho, chief executive officer of Banker’s Toolbox. “BAM is successful in finding information that banks may not have been able to find before and accurately reporting it. For this reason, banks absolutely need an automated tracking tool that ensures full compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.”

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About Lea County State Bank
Founded in 1928, Hobbs, N.M.-based Lea County State Bank is dedicated to the people of Lea County. The bank adopted the community’s pioneer spirit, which developed into its philosophy of always putting the customer first. Additional information about the bank can be found online at www.onlinelcsb.com.  

About Banker’s Toolbox, Inc.
North Hollywood, Calif.-based Banker’s Toolbox, Inc., helps banks manage risk and streamline compliance examinations. The company’s product suite consists of affordable solutions for money laundering detection and reporting, commercial real estate loan portfolio risk assessment, risk management through fraud and kite prevention and secure wire processing automation. The Banker’s Toolbox team is a unique combination of seasoned bankers and information technology consultants who specialize in designing, developing and implementing risk management solutions nationwide while providing unparalleled customer service to regional and community banks. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.bankerstoolbox.com.

SOURCE: Banker's Toolbox, Inc.