Bill Nelson: Global Threat of Cyber-Enabled Crime

In this segment of AML Now, ACAMS Executive Vice President, John J. Byrne spoke with Bill Nelson, president and CEO of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), a private-public center organization created to share cyber attacks, best practices and government actions in this global area of concern. FS-ISAC is a great example of affected entities working together to address complicated problems.

Nelson is the president and CEO of FS-ISAC, a non-profit association dedicated to protecting financial services firms from physical and cyber attacks. FS-ISAC has over 5,500 members worldwide including banks, credit unions, payment processors, broker-dealers, third-party service providers and insurance companies.

The FS-ISAC fulfills its mission through the dissemination of trusted and timely information regarding physical and cyber security risks to its membership. In 2013, FS-ISAC received the prestigious RSA Award for Excellence in information security. Also in that year, Nelson was named the fifth most influential person in the field of Financial Information Security by the publication BankInfoSecurity.

Before joining the FS-ISAC, Nelson was the executive vice president of NACHA –The Electronic Payments Association from 1988 to 2006, where he oversaw the development of the ACH Network into one of the largest electronic payment systems in the world, processing nearly 14 billion payments by the time he transitioned to FS-ISAC. He also oversaw NACHA's rulemaking, marketing, rules enforcement, education and government relations programs. Prior to joining NACHA, Nelson held several treasury management and lending positions within the banking industry. He has also been a senior product manager at Mellon Bank and he graduated from Allegheny College.

If you know a financial crime prevention professional you would like interviewed, please send your AML Now interview recommendations to John J. Byrne at jbyrne@acams.org or to Karla Monterrosa-Yancey at editor@acams.org.