The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) is an organization that provides training and certification, runs conferences and disseminates information on detection and prevention of money laundering.
The Miami-based organization is a subsidiary of Alert Global Media, which provides news and analysis on money laundering laws and regulations.

Locations

Although based in the USA, ACAMS has an international reach with 10,000 members at the end of 2009 and a strong presence in Europe, Latin America and a growing presence in Asia.
In January 2009 ACAMS opened a center in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

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In June 2009 ACAMS established a Nigerian chapter in Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission

Independent Corrupt Practices Commission

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission , is a Nigerian agency that was inaugurated on the 29th of September 2000 following the recommendation of President Olusegun Obasanjo...

 (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola

Emmanuel Ayoola

Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola is a Nigerian lawyer and judge who became Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission in 2005. He is also a judge of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.-Early years:...

, said the ICPC was looking forward to a fruitful partnership with ACAMS in the campaign against corruption and all other related crimes.

Training

ACAMS provides training and assists other educational organizations in anti-money laundering courses. Its Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) program is internationally recognized. The CAMS program takes one day of education and half a day of examination, so participants must already have a strong basis in AML-related issues.
The ACAMS qualifications are said to be less exacting than the graduate diplomas offered by the ICA in the UK.

In October 2004, ACAMS sent representatives to Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

 to start training Middle Eastern students to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing

Terrorist Financing

Terrorist financing came into limelight after the events of terrorism on 9/11. The US passed the USA PATRIOT Act to, among other reasons, attempt thwarting the financing of terrorism and anti-money laundering making sure these were given some sort of adequate focus by US financial institutions...

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In July 2006, ACAMS arranged for a CAMS preparation seminar and examination on Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the nation's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac.-Geography:Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of...

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In January 2007, ACAMS gave Gregory A. Simms, former senior investigator at the Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n Financial Services Commission, the CAMS designation.
In May 2008, ACAMS arranged CAMS testing in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, attended five staff members of the Lebanese

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 Special Investigation Commission.
In July 2008, ACAMS and Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...

 School of Law offered a five-day course for compliance officers and others interested in the AML field.
In May 2009, ACAMS signed an agreement with Fudan University

Fudan University

Fudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...

 in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 to jointly provide anti-money laundering training throughout mainland China.

Conferences

In December 2007, ACAMS and the Union of Arab Banks held a conference on money laundering and terrorist financing conference in Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

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ACAMS runs annual conferences, attended mainly by bank compliance officers responsible for ensuring that their institutions follow the provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act

Bank Secrecy Act

The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 requires financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering...

. In September 2008, at the seventh Annual International Money Laundering Conference & Exhibition, special sessions addressed the
increasing risks caused by new online banking technologies and the emerging "virtual worlds."

Punditry

Executives of ACAMS are often cited in stories about money-laundering.
In February 2003, Saskia Rietbroek-Garces, executive director of ACAMS, was quoted as saying "Money is like water. The money will always find the path of least resistance."
In January 2005, talking of a case in which Riggs Bank

Riggs Bank

Riggs Bank was a Washington, D.C.-based commercial bank with branches located in the surrounding metropolitan area and offices around the world. For most of its history, it was the largest bank in the nation's capital. Riggs had been controlled by the Albritton family since the 1980s, but they lost...

 failed to report suspicious transaction by General Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet

Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...

, the former dictator of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, Rietbroek-Garces said it was a "textbook case study of most of the money-laundering issues that have surfaced since the Patriot Act."
In another interview that month, she said that detecting terrorist financing probably is one of the most challenging tasks for both small and large banks.
A Wall Street Journal article of April 2005 quoted Rietbroek-Garces as saying that the greatest problem in South America is lack of enforcement, rather than lack of an up-to-date legal system.