Screening Out Criminals Before They Become Employees

A recent FDIC/General Accounting Office statistic revealed that 83.3 percent of all bank losses are attributed to internal fraud.

A good portion of that fraud is caused by criminals who manage to sneak their way back onto a bank's employee roles.

Banks clearly need tools to guard them against dishonest employees. One such tool is pre-employment screening. Thomas W. Begg Jr., vice president, Corporate Investigations and Fraud Prevention, First Chicago Corp., Chicago, tells how his bank guards against hiring persons already convicted or being tried for crimes. The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) prohibits the participation of convicted individuals in the affairs of financial institutions.

Any person convicted of a criminal offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust or any person who has agreed to enter into a pre-trial program in connection with such an offense cannot directly or indirectly conduct the affairs of a federally insured financial institution.

Individuals or institutions that violate this prohibition are subject to fines of up to $1 million per day, imprisonment up to five years or both.

Here's what we do at First Chicago Corporation to ensure we don't hire criminals

Fingerprinting:

All newly hired employees are fingerprinted to determine if a person has a conviction for a dishonest act, breach of trust, serious offense (e.g. murder, rape, arson) or has entered into a pre-trial diversion or similar program.
Periodic fingerprinting as needed of employees who work in sensitive areas.
Employers Mutual Association: EMA is a centralized employee database located in Chicago where the names and identifiers of job-offer applicants are submitted to EMA for screening of new hires who have admitted to a crime, provided a signed statement of such a crime or who have actually been convicted of such a crime.
As an EMA subscriber, First Chicago submits the names and identifiers of all employees to EMA who have committed defalcations against the bank.

Drug Testing:

All applicants offered jobs are tested for drug usage, and if test results are positive, the job offer will be rescinded.
Periodic drug testing is conducted on employees as needed.

Credit Inquiries:

All job offer applicants are subject to a credit inquiry to determine if they have adverse personal credit histories (e.g. judgments, tax levies, accounts charged off or placed for collection). Financial difficulty can create a temptation for one to steal from the bank.
Periodic credit inquiries are conducted as needed on employees in sensitive areas. These are some proactive measures we take to ensure that the people we hire are not hiding their pasts in order to gain access to our financial institution.