The Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists (ACFCS) has announced it would focus on bringing new resources, collaboration and training to help the community during the coronavirus pandemic. 

According to the ACFCS, the coronavirus has led to historic disruption in business, finance, and daily life, yet financial crime has hardly slowed down, and the confusion engendered by COVID-19 has been ripe breeding ground for fraudsters, cyberattacks and scammers.

In this tumult, the work of those in financial crime prevention is more important than ever before, adds ACFCS, even as adapting to this new reality poses unforeseen obstacles. From the strain of entire compliance teams working from home, to the stress of keeping up with new threats, there’s a tremendous amount of change to take on and take in, says ACFCS. 

In collaboration with its members, partners and the community as a whole, ACFCS will provide a series of trainings, tools and initiatives to help build resilient programs for compliance, investigations and enforcement, to help security professionals adapt to new criminal trends and typologies in a rapidly changing world by boosting online training at a time when face-to-face is impossible, and giving tips and techniques to soldier on when staff and resources are constrained.

A few highlights of the Quarterly Focus are:

• Increased Online Learning with a Focus on COVID-19 – ACFCS will bring a packed webinar calendar in the coming weeks, with events honing in on the compliance and investigative impacts of the coronavirus. Beyond webinars, ACFC is expanding online content to include video chats with experts, virtual networking events, and much more. View the calendar here.
• Online Exam Access for the CFCS Credential and Changes to Certification Policies – Starting soon, ACFCS will make the CFCS exam available online for candidates. They're also changing recertification and exam scheduling deadlines to relieve pressure on anyone affected by the coronavirus.
• CFCS Scholarships to Foster Resilient Programs – This quarter, ACFCS is offering 20 CFCS scholarships, its highest number ever, to individuals who are helping their organizations adapt and stay strong in the fight against financial crime. Learn more about the program below and apply today.
• Community-Curated Tips and Comprehensive News Coverage – ACFCS launched a new FinCrime Resiliency Tips series to gather and share guidance with members – learn more and submit your tips. 

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR “AGENTS OF RESILIENCY”

IACFCS wants to recognize and reward the efforts of these individuals through its “Agents of Resiliency” scholarship program. ACFCS is offering twenty (20) complimentary CFCS certification packages to individuals in financial crime prevention roles who have helped build resilient programs in compliance, investigations and enforcement. The package includes registration for the CFCS exam, all prep materials, and one year of ACFCS membership, all free of charge.

Some examples of building resiliency could include, but aren’t limited to:

• Adapting your program’s red flags and monitoring rules to capture new behavior and criminal trends during the pandemic
• Investigating and detecting fraud tied to COVID-19 scams, either in the private sector or law enforcement
• Building out your organization’s cybersecurity capacity to be ready for the shift to work-from-home
• Helping your staff stay trained and up-to-date on the latest in fincrime compliance even when the normal working conditions are upended

Preference will be given to those in the public sector (government and law enforcement) and those new to their career, under three years’ experience.

The application period is currently open and will end on Friday, May 1st. Recipients will be notified on or before Friday, May 8th and announced publicly the following week. Click here for more details and to apply today!