aware of the severe punishment thatawaits embezzlers and bank work-
ers who steal.
Management stresses beyond any doubt or mercy that it will be un-
compromising and very brutal should the slightest indication of such behav-
ior be discovered.
Know Your Customers, Privacy, Customer
Identification Policies, and Fraud Prevention
New Accounts Opening After the crime of September 11, 2001 and the in-
creased abuse of bank services in the United States by con artists, money
launderers, and terrorists, strict regulations and security laws have been
passed, making it difficult to open a new bank account for a new customer.
This part of the program trains bank staff on the Customer Identification
Program (CIP) at the bank and the required steps that must be taken to
safely open a new account.
Staff is also made aware of and trained to follow the requirements and
the guidelines of the USA PATRIOT Act.^3 This training program teaches
the methods ofenhanced due diligenceand explains where to find documen-
tation to assist in the verification of information.
Safeguarding Customer Information and Protecting Customer Privacy The
staff is trained to recognize the methods and techniques used by con artists,
impersonators, and identity theft experts to achieve their goal of getting as
much information about bank customers as possible. Privacy regulations
are discussed as well. The program also uses a video that dramatizes the
mistakes innocently made by bank employees that can compromise cus-
tomer data safety.
The responsibility of keeping depositors’ information confidential is
one basic and required responsibility of banking and, in particular, RF
banking. A video training program was developed in compliance with regu-
latory requirements and is designed in such a way that the staff will fully
understand the responsibilities with which they are entrusted.
Discovering and Identifying Check Fraud Bank staff—especially operations
personnel, tellers, and the staff in bank treasury—are taught and trained on
what to look for when a check is presented for processing, and procedures
that should be followed to determine if the check is genuine or counterfeit.
Identifying and Preventing Fraud against the Elderly Many elderly members
of the community use banks to deposit their savings and to receive their
Social Security monthly payments and pension monthly payments. Elderly
334 THE ART OF ISLAMIC BANKING AND FINANCE