WEALTH & WISDOM
Unlike an irrevocable trust, this type of living trust can be altered, amended, or entirely dissolved by the grantor during their lifetime.
What is a revocable trust?
This is the legal term for signing the back of a check before depositing or cashing it.
What is an Endorsement?
This fishy term refers to fraudulent emails that impersonate a bank or trusted company to trick victims into revealing passwords or account numbers.
What is phishing?
Banks must file this type of report, known as a SAR, whenever an employee notices transactions that seem suspicious or out of character for a customer
What is a Suspicious Activity Report?
In back-office internal controls, this classic security practice mandates that two separate employees are required to complete a high-risk task, such as approving a massive wire transfer.
What is dual control?
This legal document allows an individual to appoint a trusted person to manage their financial affairs if they become mentally or physically incapacitated.
What is a Power of Attorney?
This is the banking term for a check that has been written by a customer with a future date, meaning it technically shouldn't be cashed until that date arrives.
What is a post dated check?
This term describes the crime of stealing a victim's personal information—like a Social Security number—to open new bank accounts or loans in their name.
What is identity theft?
Administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, this is what the acronym OFAC stands for.
What is the Office of Foreign Assets Control?
This fundamental daily audit process involves comparing internal bank records (like the general ledger) against external records (like Federal Reserve statements) to ensure the numbers match exactly.
What is reconciliation?
Except for specific hardships, withdrawing funds from a Traditional IRA before this exact age will result in a stinging 10% IRS penalty.
What is 59 and a half?
If a customer loses a check or has a dispute with a merchant, they can request the bank issue this directive to prevent the check from being paid if it's presented.
What is a stop payment order?
In this emotionally manipulative scam, fraudsters create fake online profiles to build a relationship with a victim before fabricating a crisis and begging for a wire transfer.
What is a romance scam?
Originally passed in 1970, this foundational anti-money laundering law, known as the BSA, requires banks to assist U.S. government agencies in detecting and preventing money laundering.
What is the Bank Secrecy Act?
To ensure branch employees are accurately following cash-handling internal controls, auditors will conduct this type of surprise inspection of teller drawers without advanced warning.
What is a surprise cash count?
Albert Einstein reportedly called this mathematical concept the "eighth wonder of the world," where you earn interest on both your principal balance and your accumulated interest.
This banking term describes the actual amount of money in a customer's account that is ready for immediate use, which may be lower than the total balance due to pending holds.
What is the available balance?
This illegal practice involves writing a check from an account with insufficient funds, hoping to deposit a different check to cover it before the first one bounces.
What is check kiting?
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, this colorful phrase refers to the mandatory rules requiring financial institutions to develop written programs to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft.
What are the Red Flag rules?
This specialized physical or digital logbook requires employees to document every single merchant bag / envelope retrieved from the overnight vault, recording the name of customer, amount of deposit and both employee signatures before processing begins.
This economic phenomenon reduces the purchasing power of your money over time, meaning a dollar today will buy less in the future.
What is inflation?
This is the term for the specific stack of bills left in a teller's drawer with recorded serial numbers, meant to be handed over during a robbery so police can trace the stolen funds.
What is bait money?
This specific type of fraud involves a caretaker, family member, or scammer unauthorizedly using an older adult’s funds, property, or assets for personal gain.
What is financial elder abuse?
Federal Regulations require Bank employees to complete certain training courses as a part of the new hire process as well as annually thereafter. Colony Bank uses a website called
What is ABA Training?
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, financial institutions are required to generate a clear audit trail by filing this specific electronic report whenever a customer conducts a physical cash transaction exceeding $10,000.
What is a CTR?