Counter-Terrorist Financing Certificate Course Syllabus

Audience
ACAMS Counter-Terrorist Financing focuses on the needs of staff responsible for analyzing and identifying
suspicious activity—analysts, investigators, compliance officers, risk officers, money laundering reporting officers,
consultants, and law enforcement officers. (To bring all learners to a shared baseline of terminology, concepts, and
processes, ACAMS starts with the “Counter-Terrorist Financing: Essentials” video.)

The course is written and presented by CTF experts working around the world. It pulls examples from many
countries, and is globally appropriate. The lessons and examples are relevant to any industry. A primary focus is
“financial institutions,” including banks, credit unions, asset managers, insurance, MSB, securities broker-dealers,
credit card issuers, alternate payment systems, etc.

Course structure
ACAMS Counter-Terrorist Financing allows you 4 calendar weeks to complete 4 hours of coursework, including a
final assessment. You will be guided using a learning path on ACAMS’ learning management system (LMS).
Follow carefully all instructions. 4 weeks from the course start date your access expires.

Assignment Format Download from LMS

Week One 30 mins – VIDEO Video: Self-paced, available PDF quick reference
“CTF: Essentials” anytime

Week Two 90 mins – VIRTUAL Live event: See LMS for PDF slides
CLASSROOM date/time. Afterward a
“Evil” recording will be on the
LMS.
Week Three 90 mins – VIRTUAL Live event: See LMS for PDF slides
CLASSROOM date/time. Afterward a
“Good” recording will be on the
LMS.
Week Four 15 mins – HOMEWORK Self-paced, available PDF assignment
anytime
15 mins – ONLINE Self-paced, available PDF ACAMS
ASSESSMENT anytime certificate

Live virtual classroom events are pre-scheduled before you purchase the course. Be sure to attend both. A
recording will be available to you a few days after each live event.

To earn the certificate you must pass the assessment within the 4 weeks. The assessment has 20 questions.
The minimum passing score is 80%. Multiple attempts are allowed. When you pass, your ACAMS Certificate will be
available in the learning path itself. Click to download a PDF. ACAMS will automatically add 4 CAMS Credits to
your profile.

Technical requirements
The course is compatible with most operating systems and browsers to make it easy to participate. The video,
homework, and final assessment are mobile-friendly. The virtual classroom uses Webex Event Center which
currently does not support mobile devices. The ACAMS Learning Management System (LMS) is
https://acams.exceedlms.com. Contact your organization’s IT department for assistance.

© ACAMS. All rights reserved. Course Syllabus v1.1 updated 15AUG2016 page 1
This information is subject to change.
Behavioral outcomes of this course:
1. Describe how terrorism works—including how it’s financed
2. Identify possible threats through situational awareness
3. Mitigate the organization’s risk of being involved in terrorist financing
4. Create a Rapid Response Team

Manager motivation for assigning learners to training

Rational Emotional
Organizational • Reputation
• Civil legal liability
• Regulatory oversight
• Asset protection
Individual • Sense of duty
• Curiosity

Learner motivation for participating in training

Rational Emotional
Organizational • Job security

Individual • Job performance • Sense of duty

• Professional • Curiosity
development

© ACAMS. All rights reserved. Course Syllabus v1.1 updated 15AUG2016 page 2
This information is subject to change.
Course content
30-minute self-paced video: “Counter-Terrorist Financing: Essentials”
Purpose: To bring all learners to a shared baseline of terminology, concepts, and processes prior to the live virtual
classroom events. This is the high-level introduction.

• Describe terrorism and how terrorist trends develop—including how it’s financed
o Beginning to look at terrorism from an anti-financial crime perspective
o Distinction in process and motive between money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation
financing (and motivation)
• Identify possible threats through situational awareness
o Red flags
o Ongoing assessment
• Mitigate the organization’s risk of being involved in terrorist financing
o The importance of a risk-based approach
o Understanding the practical steps of counter-terrorist financing (CTF)
• The value of a Rapid Response Team
o Roles before, during, and after an emergency response situation
• Case studies, informal knowledge checks throughout
• Benefit statement: Personal, to employer, to society
• Next step: Practice situational awareness (clues, monitoring)

© ACAMS. All rights reserved. Course Syllabus v1.1 updated 15AUG2016 page 3
This information is subject to change.
90-minute live virtual classroom: “Evil”
Purpose: To teach learners about terrorism and how terrorist trends develop—including how it’s financed—and how
they can identify possible threats through situational awareness.

• Review of “Counter-Terrorist Financing: Essentials” video

• 1. Describe how terrorism works—including how it’s financed

o A primer on terrorism
 Terminology
 Emerging threats
 From organizations to operations
 Nexus between terrorists and transnational criminal organizations
 How terror hurts the learner (directly and indirectly)

o How terror is financed

 The business model of a terrorist organization
 Raise, move, store, spend
 Funding sources and applications
 Typologies (including trade diversion, etc.)
 Distinction in process and motive between money laundering, terrorist financing, and
proliferation financing (and motivation)
 Beginning to look at terrorism from a financial institution compliance perspective
 Sustaining a terrorist organization requires constant access to money

o Case studies, realistic practice activity, and polls

• 2. Identify possible threats through situational awareness

o Introducing the concept that finance and communications are major vulnerabilities to terrorists

o Red flags

o Ongoing assessment of public source information

o How terror is blocked

 Natural (inherent, societal, functional) barriers
 Citizen actions
 Private sector actions
 Law enforcement actions
 Intelligence agency actions
 Diplomatic actions
 Regulatory actions
 Military actions

o Situational awareness
 Clues, monitoring

o Case studies, realistic practice activity, and polls

• Knowledge checks throughout and final assessment practice questions

• Benefit statement: Personal, to employer, to society
• Next step: Practice situational awareness

© ACAMS. All rights reserved. Course Syllabus v1.1 updated 15AUG2016 page 4
This information is subject to change.
90-minute live virtual classroom: “Good”
Purpose: To teach learners how to mitigate the organization’s risk of being involved in terrorist financing, and how
to create a Rapid Response Team.

• Review of live virtual classroom “Evil”

• 3. Mitigate the organization’s risk of being involved in terrorist financing

o Assessing risk
 Clients
 Products & Services
 Countries
 Channels

o How terror financing is blocked

 FI actions (financial chokepoints)
 Compliance countermeasures (the importance of exploiting financial intelligence as a
disruption mechanism)
 Red flags
 FATF recommendations
 Sound risk management in FIs (KYC – identification of beneficial owners, establishment of
source of funds and other critical components of KYC as well as account monitoring)
 Understanding the practical steps of CTF (manual and automated)
 What are gaps in your controls?

o General freezing and reporting obligations

o Case studies, realistic practice activity, and polls

• 4. Create a Rapid Response Team

o The value of a Rapid Response Team

o Role before an emergency response situation
 Specialized training
 Awareness of emerging threats and trends
 Maintaining a close working relationship with appropriate law enforcement agencies
 Proactive, targeted monitoring to identify local and foreign terrorist-related transactions
o Role after an emergency response situation
 Urgent reactive investigations
 After-action reviews to assess the timeliness and effectiveness of investigations and law
enforcement liaison

o Case examples, realistic practice activity, and polls

• Knowledge checks throughout and final assessment practice questions

• Benefit statement: Personal, to employer, to society

• Next step: Prepare for final assessment

© ACAMS. All rights reserved. Course Syllabus v1.1 updated 15AUG2016 page 5
This information is subject to change.
15-minute homework assignment
Self-paced, available anytime

Purpose: To encourage engagement with other CTF professionals.

• Login to the ACAMS online discussion forums at http://community.acams.org. Join the “Counter-Terrorist
Financing” community. Participate in a discussion about a CTF topic to be identified by the instructors.

© ACAMS. All rights reserved. Course Syllabus v1.1 updated 15AUG2016 page 6
This information is subject to change.