Customer Screening and Identification

What this video covers

• Why the USA PATRIOT Act requires every broker-dealer to maintain a written, risk-based Customer Identification Program (CIP) as part of its anti-money laundering (AML) program
• The exactly four identifying items every CIP must collect (name, date of birth, address, identification number) and the strict "before or at account opening" timing rule
• Why occupation, income, and net worth are suitability items, NOT CIP items, and why the exam will try to bait you with that swap
• Why a P.O. box alone is insufficient for individuals, and what counts as an acceptable address
• How non-U.S. persons can substitute a passport number plus country of issuance for a Social Security number (SSN)
• The two acceptable verification paths: documentary (government photo ID) vs. non-documentary (database checks, credit bureaus, public records), and why firms only need one
• The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) terrorist-list screening requirement and why it runs on a "reasonable period after account opening" clock instead of the before-or-at rule
• The five-year retention split: identifying records kept five years after the account is closed, verification records kept five years after the record is made