Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist Certification (CAMS) Practice Exam

What does 'Know Your Correspondent Bank' entail?

1. Understanding the bank's monetary policy

2. Assessing the compliance of foreign banks

3. Identifying beneficial owners and expected activities

4. Determining transaction fees associated with services

The correct answer is: Identifying beneficial owners and expected activities

The concept of 'Know Your Correspondent Bank' primarily involves understanding the risks associated with the relationships financial institutions maintain with foreign banks. This includes identifying beneficial owners and expected activities of those banks. By knowing who truly controls the bank and what kinds of transactions it typically engages in, institutions can assess risk more effectively and implement appropriate due diligence measures. This approach helps to mitigate the potential for fraud, money laundering, or other illicit activities that could arise from insufficient knowledge about a correspondent bank's operations and its clients. Understanding beneficial ownership is crucial because it reveals the actual individuals or entities that influence bank operations, thereby enabling better risk assessment. In relation to the other options, comprehending a bank's monetary policy pertains more to economic and regulatory frameworks rather than directly assessing correspondent banking relationships. Evaluating compliance of foreign banks certainly plays a role in due diligence, but it is a broader focus that does not specifically address the identification of beneficial owners. Determining transaction fees associated with services is mainly an operational concern and does not relate to the compliance or risk elements crucial in correspondent banking practices.