First Interstate Bank Deploys Training Simulator.

First Interstate Bank (Billings, Mont.) has rolled out Wolters Kluwer's Wiz Sentri: AML Virtuoso, the Minneapolis-based company's first anti-money laundering training simulator. Rather than taking a passive approach to learning, AML Virtuoso uses an electronic gaming format to immerse AML investigators in a virtual world of money laundering schemes and forensic investigation. It is designed to engage trainees, requiring them to investigate simulated money laundering cases they will likely encounter. According to Wolters Kluwer, by "playing and winning" the game, investigators learn how to meet regulatory requirements more quickly than through traditional methods, helping to drive down training times and costs.

"AML Virtuoso exposes us to real-world money laundering cases, which are designed to mimic what we'll run into on the job," said Leslie Croaker, senior Bank Secrecy Act analyst with First Interstate, in a statement. "We've found this format helps our BSA staff learn much more effectively than any other training methods we've tried." The bank's BSA department also uses AML Virtuoso as a collaborative learning tool, with investigators and managers reviewing simulated cases together after they are completed.