It’s Not KYC: The Truth About Identity Verification

Kelly recently joined Plaid as their Anti-Money Laundering Officer. Prior to joining Plaid, Kelly was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley in Global Financial Crime and the Deputy AML Officer at E*TRADE Financial Corporation. Kelly also spent ten years at Grant Thornton as a forensic accountant working on global investigation, compliance, and corruption cases. She attended Bucknell University and Johns Hopkins University.

In March 2021, John started AML Pro LLC, a boutique financial crimes practice focused on cost effective and unique solutions to financial crimes related matters.

Prior to starting AML Pro LLC, John was a Managing Director and the Global Head of Financial Crimes for over thirteen years at E*TRADE Financial. He had responsibility for global AML Compliance and Fraud Investigations. John received E*TRADE’s Leadership Award as a result of his efforts in building the firm’s AML program.

Prior to joining E*TRADE, John spent 19 years as an Enforcement Attorney and BSA/AML Policy specialist at the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the SEC.  As an Enforcement attorney, John assisted financial institution regulators in recovering over $50 million in ill gotten gains from individuals and financial institutions; which had violated federal banking laws, federal securities laws and the Bank Secrecy Act.  As a BSA/AML Policy specialist, John represented first the OTS and then the Fed on interagency working groups, which drafted many of the regulations associated with the USA PATRIOT Act.   He also served as part of the US delegation to the FATF.  At the SEC, John helped pilot the Enforcement division’s SAR review program.  John’s efforts resulted in numerous awards and promotions from financial institution regulators.

John also frequently serves as a speaker at industry sponsored AML forums and at FFIEC examiner training schools. He received his BA with awards and honors from the George Washington University and his JD from the College of William and Mary.

Sepideh Rowland has more than 25 years of compliance experience and holds extensive knowledge of banking, money services, virtual assets and fintech.

Sepideh Rowland is a senior compliance executive with deep regulatory and operational knowledge of banking, money services business, virtual assets and fintech. She has more than 25 years of legal and compliance experience in developing and administering financial crimes compliance programs to exceed regulatory requirements and incorporate industry best practices. She has spent many years interacting with federal and state regulatory authorities.

Ms. Rowland previously developed and led the Managed Services practice at K2 Integrity. Prior to this, she led compliance or BSA/AML and sanctions functions at several respected financial institutions, community banks and money services businesses. She also played an active role in lobbying and advocating for financial institutions as senior counsel with the American Bankers Association.

Ms. Rowland’s experience includes the implementation of state-of-the-art compliance systems, the management of large transaction monitoring teams, the management of consent and enforcement actions and the establishment of governance oversight programs. She served as Principal Vice President and BSA officer at Burke & Herbert Bank; Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at The Bancorp Bank; Vice President, global head of compliance and ethics at American Express; and Chief Compliance Officer for Travelex Global Business Payments, Inc. for North America. She has also served as General Counsel of Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (a subsidiary of the American Bankers Association); Senior Compliance Counsel for BSA/AML at the American Bankers Association; Director of Global AML for E*TRADE Financial, Deputy Chief Compliance Officer for E*TRADE Bank; and Second Vice President and Special Assets Manager at Monroe Bank and Trust.

Ms. Rowland currently serves as Co-Chair of the U.S. Capital Chapter Advisory Board for the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (“ACAMS”) and as Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the ABA/ABA Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference. She is also currently an Advisory Board Member and former Chair for the American Bankers Association Certified AML and Fraud Professional (“CAFP”) certification program and a member of the Editorial Board of the ABA’s Bank Compliance magazine.