Teller Banned from Banking

Answer by Mary Beth Guard, BOL Guru
Guru Bios

When you think about an individual being permanently banned from banking, a senior executive or director is what you probably think of as the likely target of such a ban. A recent decision obtained by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency illustrates that is not always the case.

In OCC-AA-EC-03-24, former Customer Service Representative and Teller Stephanie Edmond is prohibited from participating in any manner in the conduct of the affairs of any insured depository institution or holding company, due to her actions while employed at two different banks.

According to the decision, Edmond:

• fraudulently benefited from an installment loan by, among other things, providing false information on loan documents and forging the name and signature of a cosigner;
• took out a loan in the name of a bank customer, without the customer's knowledge or consent, and forged the customers signature on the loan application, then used the proceeds for her personal benefit;
• executed a cash-out ticket without posting a corresponding ticket.

The loss sustained by the two banks totaled $22,346 and Ms. Edmonds now has a big black hole in her list of potential career choices.

Regulatory enforcement actions like this one make excellent training tools. Print off a copy (or a copy of this summary of the order) and use it within your institution to ask the questions: "Could these types of fraudulent activity take place in our institution? What internal controls do we have in place to prevent such actions, or to detect them if they do take place?'

The original version appeared in the July/August 2004 edition of the Oklahoma Bankers Association Compliance Informer.

First published on BankersOnline.com 1/10/05