CTMA Practice Questions
Prepare for CTMA with more than an answer.
- Exam fee
- $1045 USD
- Level
- Associate
- Valid for
- 1 year
Domains covered on the exam 4
- Role of Transaction Monitoring in Financial Crime Prevention20%
- Transaction Monitoring Alert Generation15%
- Alert Investigation40%
- Outcomes of Transaction Monitoring Investigations25%
- 1
The command to create a new resource group is: New-AzResourceGroup -Name 'MyRG' -Location '_____' (Note: This is a placeholder question format, replacing with relevant content: 'The primary regulatory body in the US that receives Suspicious Activity Reports is _____')
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Correct answer: B
FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) is the US financial intelligence unit (FIU) that receives SARs. OFAC deals with sanctions, the SEC with securities, and the IRS with taxes.
- 2
Which of the following customer types typically represents the HIGHEST risk for money laundering due to the high volume of cash transactions and anonymity?
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Correct answer: B
MSBs are consistently rated as high-risk because they deal heavily in cash, offer products like money orders and remittances that can move funds globally quickly, and often have transient customer bases that are harder to identify.
- 3
An investigator identifies a potentially suspicious transaction involving a wire transfer to a country with strict bank secrecy laws. The investigator decides to submit a Request for Information (RFI) to the front office relationship manager. What is the primary risk the investigator must mitigate when taking this step?
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Correct answer: B
Tipping off occurs when a customer is informed that they are under investigation or that a SAR is being filed. When sending an RFI to the front office, there is a risk that the relationship manager might inadvertently alert the customer to the suspicion during their outreach. Clear instructions on what can be asked are essential.
- 4
Which of the following best describes the 'placement' stage of money laundering in the context of transaction monitoring alerts?
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Correct answer: B
Placement is the first stage where illicit cash enters the financial system (e.g., via cash deposits, purchase of money instruments). Transaction monitoring alerts related to large cash deposits or structuring are typical indicators of this stage.
- 5
A transaction monitoring analyst at a regional bank is reviewing an alert for a cash-intensive business customer. The customer, a local convenience store, has deposited $9,500 in cash daily for the past week. The threshold for cash transaction reporting is $10,000. Which financial crime typology does this activity most strongly suggest?
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Correct answer: B
Structuring (also known as smurfing) involves breaking down large amounts of cash into smaller deposits to avoid regulatory reporting thresholds (such as the $10,000 CTR limit in many jurisdictions). Consistently depositing amounts just below the threshold is a classic red flag for structuring.
- 6
During a regulatory examination, an institution is criticized for its Transaction Monitoring (TM) program's lack of alignment with its risk appetite. Which document should the institution's TM rules and scenarios be primarily mapped to in order to resolve this finding?
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Correct answer: B
The enterprise-wide risk assessment (EWRA) identifies the specific financial crime risks inherent to the institution's customers, products, and geographies. A risk-based TM program must map its scenarios and rules directly to the high-risk areas identified in the EWRA to demonstrate coverage aligned with risk appetite.
