LONDON, ON, March 1, 2022
/PRNewswire/ - VersaBank (TSX: VBNK) (NASDAQ: VBNK) ("VersaBank" or
the "Bank") today announced it has appointed financial crime
prevention expert and advocate, Garry W. G.
Clement, to the position of Chief Anti-Money Laundering
Officer ("CAMLO"). Mr. Clement is an internationally
recognized expert in the areas of money laundering, white-collar
crime, organized crime and detection of suspicious activity,
including cyber-crime. He brings to VersaBank more than 40 years of
policing and financial crime prevention experience, including three
decades with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), culminating
in his role as National Director, Proceeds of Crime
(Superintendent). In this capacity, Mr. Clement
was a Canadian representative at Financial Action
Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist
financing watchdog, and was a recognized international trainer
focused on money laundering investigations. In 2018 Mr. Clement was
named the Global Fraud and White Collar Advisor of the year.
"I am thrilled to welcome someone of Mr. Clement's deep
experience and specific expertise to this critical role with our
Bank, especially as we prepare for the commercial launch of our
revolutionary Digital Deposit Receipts, starting with our
Canadian-dollar-based VCAD," said David
Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer,
VersaBank. "Mr. Clement brings an impressive resume to
VersaBank and will further strengthen our security and surveillance
capabilities as we take our next major steps as a leader in digital
banking. We developed our Digital Deposit Receipts to address the
fundamental shift of businesses and consumers wishing to conduct
low-cost, frictionless, financial transactions with a digital
currency, based one-to-one on fiat currency deposits, backed by the
Bank's investment grade rating, and what we believe to be the most
secure technology in the industry."
Mr. Taylor added, "We applaud the banking and financial industry
regulators who share our belief in the value of a regulated digital
currency industry, and are very encouraged by this growing trend,
where we believe our Digital Deposit Receipts offer a significant
advantage. The addition of Mr. Clement only strengthens our
value proposition further."
Since 2009, Mr. Clement has been President and Chief Executive
Officer of Clement Advisory Group (CAG), an anti-money laundering
consulting firm and a licensed private investigative agency
specializing in the entire range of financial crime, which he
founded. One of the contracts Mr. Clement held for over two
years was that of the Executive Vice President of the Association
of Certified Financial Crime Specialists, a financial crime
association under Barbri. Prior thereto, he was Managing Director
with an international consulting firm which focused on
corporate investigations and money laundering consulting to banks,
money service businesses and credit unions. Prior to his
consulting career, he served for thirty years with the RCMP, where
he worked in the areas of proceeds of crime and money laundering as
an investigator, undercover operator and manager. Mr. Clement's
undercover role focused on some of the highest levels of organized
crime and resulted in receiving a Lieutenant Governor's award and
Commanding Officers Commendation. He also held the role of Liaison
Officer in Hong Kong, where he
worked with law enforcement in the Asia-Pacific region dealing with
counterfeiting, fraud and money laundering. Prior thereto, he
served for four years as the Chief of Police for Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. During his
policing career, he received numerous awards and commendations for
his investigative abilities, including recognitions from the US
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA).
Mr. Clement holds the Certified Crypto Investigator designation,
as well as the Financial Intelligence Specialist designation, which
includes training in crypto currency. Mr. Clement is certified
in the Certified Fraud Examiners and Association of Certified
Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, in addition to his certification
as a financial crime specialist.
He currently sits on the board of advisors of MindBridgeAI,
provider of the world's leading financial risk discovery platform,
helps auditors, accountants, and financial professionals to become
more efficient and profitable, and is an advisor to NPC DataGuard,
MTFX Group of Companies, and most recently has been providing
consulting advice to a new digital bank which will soon be
announced in Barbados. Mr. Clement has a decades long history
of lecturing on financial crime and prevention around the world and
has been qualified as an expert witness in organized crime, money
laundering, drug trafficking networks, both national and
international, and Asian-based organized crime. He has been
consistently called upon to speak at national/international
conferences, and before boards of directors and senior management
forums focusing on all aspects of financial crime, including
cyber-crime.
Mr. Clement fills the role vacated by Barbara Hale, who is retiring after a 25-year
career with VersaBank.
"Barb has very capably served VersaBank throughout her tenure,
holding a number of important positions, with the last 20 years in
the CAMLO role," said Mr. Taylor. "On behalf of the board of
directors, I would like to express our collective gratitude to Barb
for her significant contribution to the success and growth of
VersaBank. We wish Barb well as she embarks on this new
chapter in her life."
About VersaBank
VersaBank is a Canadian Schedule I chartered (federally
licensed) bank with a difference. VersaBank became the world's
first fully digital financial institution when it adopted its
highly efficient business-to-business model using its proprietary
state-of-the-art financial technology to profitably address
underserved segments of the Canadian banking market in the pursuit
of superior net interest margins while mitigating risk. VersaBank
obtains all of its deposits and provides the majority of its loans
and leases electronically, with innovative deposit and lending
solutions for financial intermediaries that allow them to excel in
their core businesses. In addition, leveraging its internally
developed IT security software and capabilities, VersaBank
established wholly owned, Washington,
DC-based subsidiary, DRT Cyber Inc. to pursue significant
large-market opportunities in cyber security and develop innovative
solutions to address the rapidly growing volume of cyber threats
challenging financial institutions, multi-national corporations and
government entities on a daily basis.
VersaBank's Common Shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange
("TSX") and Nasdaq under the symbol VBNK. Its Series 1 Preferred
Shares trade on the TSX under the symbol VBNK.PR.A.
Forward-Looking Statements
The statements in this press release that relate to the future
are forward-looking statements. By their very nature,
forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and
uncertainties, both general and specific, many of which are out of
our control. Risks exist that predictions, forecasts, projections,
and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements as several important factors could cause actual results
to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations,
estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking
statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the
strength of the Canadian economy in general and the strength of the
local economies within Canada in
which we conduct operations; the effects of changes in monetary and
fiscal policy, including changes in interest rate policies of the
Bank of Canada; changing global
commodity prices; the effects of competition in the markets in
which we operate; inflation; capital market fluctuations; the
timely development and introduction of new products in receptive
markets; the impact of changes in the laws and regulations
pertaining to financial services; changes in tax laws;
technological changes; unexpected judicial or regulatory
proceedings; unexpected changes in consumer spending and savings
habits; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and our anticipation of
and success in managing the risks implicated by the foregoing. For
a detailed discussion of certain key factors that may affect our
future results, please see our annual management's discussion and
analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended October 31, 2021.
The foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. When
relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors
and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and
other uncertainties and potential events. The forward-looking
information contained in this document and the related MD&A is
presented to assist our shareholders and others in understanding
our financial position and may not be appropriate for any other
purposes. Except as required by securities law, we do not undertake
to update any forward-looking statement that is contained in this
document and the related MD&A or made from time to time by the
Bank or on its behalf.
Visit our website at: www.versabank.com
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