The Tribune

A Bahamian attorney was among a panel of practitioners sharing their expertise in compliance, cyber crimes, fraud and corruption at the Caribbean Regional Compliance Association (CRCA) conference in St Maarten last week.

Senator Cheryl Bazard joined colleagues from Antigua, Bahamas and Jamaica at the two-day conference, which kicked off last Thursday under the theme “‘Compliance...The Moving Target’.

The goal was to offer “best practices for managing an organisation’s overall anti-money laundering programme [and] tackle emerging compliance threats in the region”.

Attendees also got to examine regulatory changes in a number of Caribbean jurisdictions.

CRCA delegates are typically leading operations/risk managers and money laundering reporting officers. Others who are preparing for an audit also take advantage of the opportunity to attend.

Mrs Bazard is the principal of Bazard & Co, a firm which specialises in compliance and anti-money laundering issues.

In 1999, Mrs Bazard was the founding president of the Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers (BACO). The helped the financial services sector better prepare for the legislation enacted at the beginning of the century in response to the Bahamas’ blacklisting in 2000.

Mrs Bazard holds certificates with distinction in anti-money laundering and compliance from the International Compliance Association in London, which partners with BACO and the University of Manchester.

A sought-after speaker, Mrs Bazard took to the stage Friday with Lieutenant Colonel Edward Croft, office of national drug and money laundering control policy in Antigua,and Justin Felice of the Financial Investigation Division in Jamaica.

BACO’s current president, Marsha Ferguson, was part of a breakout session which focused on risk-based assessment.