It was decided that the industry would not proactively comment, however we should be prepared to respond to media inquiries with two core messages:

1. ATMIA and INTERAC are concerned about any abuse of the INTERAC network and have requirements in place that member payment processors must carry out to prevent fraud. - Due diligence procedures (criminal background checks) on all business partners that are contracted to perform any operation with respect to the INTERAC services.
   
   - As one of Canada’s leading payment networks, fraud is a concern to us, to our members and to our business.
   
   
2. ATMIA and Interac Association is actively working with government, FINTRAC, and the RCMP to determine what additional measures can be taken to strengthen current processes in place to prevent the risk of money laundering.
   
   - ATMIA working with RCMP to improve information sharing processes needed to track criminal activity.
   
   - Interac Association working with ATMIA to enhance current requirements and best practices to further strengthen the framework in place to mitigate the risk of money laundering.

In that regard, we have made great progress. The ATMIA Canada Board continues to have face-to-face meetings and conference calls with the Canadian Government and Law Enforcement to neutralize the Department of Finance’s proposed requirements for white-lable ABMs, which include:

• CDD responsibility
• Person or entity to be identified
• Identity verification
• Information and Records to be kept on persons
• Information and Records to be kept on entities
• Criminal Record Checks
• Source of Funds Declarations Responsibility
• Information to be collected in declaration on each ABM 
• Information to be collected on the source of funds 
• Timing of declarations
• Audit and Security Unit

The next face-to-face meeting will be in June – yet to be determined.   There will be a session provided by the RCMP at our upcoming Fall Security Conference on Money Laundering that you won’t want to miss. 

If you are interested in learning more about this initiative, please contact Lana Harmelink, International Director of Operations. 

Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and Standard for ATMs – You may or may not be aware that the Canadian Standards Association has for years had a standard for accessibility for ATMs.  This is similar to the ADA standard in the US. 

Currently they are working to revise that standard. Most major Financial Institutions are aware of and adhere to this standard. Given ATMIA’s strong relationship with ATM deployers in Canada, we have been asked to participating in the committee.

• ATMIA has been added to Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Membership Database and on the CSA committee on accessible ATMs. 
  
  We were invited into this process very late, so it is important to make sure that you take this seriously and review this draft.  The Public Review Comment Closing Date is July 1, 2008, so I have schedule a conference call for May 29th @ 4pm Eastern to get together and discuss any concerns you may have so that we can provide one voice for the white-label industry. 

 If you are interested in participating in any of ATMIA’s Canada initiatives, please feel free to contact Lana Harmelink, ATMIA International Director of Operations.