Jim Richards is the Bank Secrecy Act Officer for Wells Fargo & Co., and is a member of the Compliance & Enterprise Risk Management Group. The group provides regulatory compliance oversight for the Bank and holding company, and corporate support for operations risk analysis and control, including BSA activities. Jim also heads up the enterprise BSA Steering Committee and the Corporate BSA/Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) Program Office. The BSA/OFAC Program Office is working to ensure that Wells Fargo has a strong, well-understood anti-money laundering and sanctions program, including establishing corporate policy, setting priorities and directing resources, sharing information and best practices, coordinating BSA/AML/OFAC compliance activities across the company, and investigating and reporting suspicious activity related to money laundering, terrorist financing, and customer and third party fraud. In addition to his BSA, AML, and OFAC responsibilities, Jim manages the enterprise Customer Due Diligence Group and Credit Investigations Department, and oversees the Corporate Fraud Risk Management Program.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo in October 2005, Jim was head of Bank of America’s Global Anti-Money Laundering Operations group. Previously, he was head of FleetBoston Financial Group’s Financial Intelligence Unit, responsible for investigating terrorist financing and money laundering.

Jim was a Special Constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police prior to beginning his legal career, with nine years in private practice specializing in commercial litigation, and four years as a prosecutor specializing in organized crime, narcotics, asset forfeiture, and public corruption.
Jim has been a two-time member of the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and is a founding member of the Advisory Board of the Association of Certified Anti- Money Laundering Specialists.
Jim is internationally recognized for his expertise in global anti- money laundering and terrorist financing investigation techniques. He regularly speaks at industry and government conferences and has published numerous articles in national publications. He is the author of the textbook “Transnational Criminal Organizations, Cybercrime, and Money Laundering.”
A native of Canada, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and a Law degree from the University of British Columbia. He is a licensed attorney.