Washington People: Fincen Policy Adviser to Join Fed as Anti-Laundering

The exodus from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network continued last week.

Pamela J. Johnson, top policy adviser to the Fincen director, has been hired by the Federal Reserve Board as its senior coordinator in the fight against money laundering. She starts Jan. 5 and will report to Richard A. Small, an assistant director in the Fed's division of banking supervision and regulation.

Her duties will include coordinating the anti-laundering compliance chiefs at the Fed's reserve banks, assisting in special investigations, and figuring out how banks should verify the identity of their customers.

"It was just a wonderful opportunity," said Ms. Johnson, who is widely known as "P.J."

"I am not leaving the team. I am just switching positions on the field."

Ms. Johnson will succeed Daniel D. Soto, who was hired by NationsBank Corp. as senior vice president for compliance of its private banking group.

Fincen director Stanley E. Morris, announced his retirement on Dec. 5. He plans to leave the agency at the end of February. Another top Morris deputy, Roger Weiner, left the agency in July for a job at the Justice Department.

The American Bankers Association wined and dined about 500 of Washington's movers and shakers at its holiday bash Wednesday.

The annual fete is a favorite among industry lobbyists, regulators, and congressional staff members. A chance to put aside conflicts such as financial modernization and the thrift charter, the schmooze-fest is spread among a number of the group's executive offices. Each room features a different type of food, including one devoted solely to calorie-laden desserts.

Attending luminaries included Treasury Under Secretary John D. Hawke Jr., Comptroller of the Currency Eugene A. Ludwig, and Federal Reserve Board governors Laurence H. Meyer and Roger Ferguson.

Consumer Bankers Association president Joe Belew last week warned bank executives not to let privacy protection take a back seat to their short- term business interests.

"It is a strategic question about preserving customer relationships," Mr. Belew said in an interview after the group had to cancel its Dec. 10 privacy workshop because of lack of participation.

Only "two or three dozen" people registered, said Mr. Belew, who attributed the tepid response to the fact that many bankers are distracted by yearend business deadlines, merger deals, and product launches.

A similar workshop last December was well attended, but it included cross-marketing and other issues that relate more directly than privacy to the bottom line, he noted.

Lack of interest in this year's workshop-which probably will be rescheduled for the spring-does not signal industry disregard for customer privacy, Mr. Belew said. "This is on people's radar screen, but it is still cutting edge."

Amy Friend is leaving the House Banking Committee to become assistant chief counsel at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Ms. Friend, general counsel for House Banking's Democrats, begins her new job Jan. 5.

"She has worked on all of the major banking bills that have been considered in the past two Congresses," said OCC Chief Counsel Julie L. Williams. "On top of all that, she is a terrific lawyer."

Ms. Friend will succeed Emily Marwell, who in April was named senior adviser to James Kamihachi, senior deputy comptroller for economic and policy analysis.

BankAmerica Corp. chairman David A. Coulter was named last week to the Federal Advisory Council, the group of bankers from mostly large institutions who advise the Federal Reserve Board.

The 50-year-old Mr. Coulter succeeds William F. Zuendt, formerly of Wells Fargo & Co. The council meets quarterly with the Fed's board of governors to report on regional economic conditions and serve as a sounding board for policy proposals.

Ellen W. Lazar has been named director of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. Ms. Lazar previously was executive director of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders.

Paul R. Gentille, formerly a manager and deputy chief financial officer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, will be Ms. Lazar's deputy.

They succeed director Kirsten Moy and deputy Steven Rohde, who resigned in August after a Treasury inspector general report found they inserted four undated memos in the files of institutions that received grants under the program hours before congressional investigators reviewed the records.

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