How many policemen end up in a banker's chair?

At least one: Chris Wilson, vice-president of group compliance at the Bank of Butterfield, moved into the banking sector after 18 years working as a policeman in the UK, Bermuda and Hong Kong.

It may seem a strange career path, but according to Mr. Wilson there were strong parallels between his work in the police and the work he does now at the bank.

As the head of compliance at the bank, Mr. Wilson is charged with ensuring that the bank is in step with anti-money laundering legislation and regulations.

In a similar vein the bulk of Mr. Wilson's nine-year tenure in Hong Kong was spent working to catch criminals trying to move ill-gotten gains - which were in many cases tied to illegal gambling activities - through the banking system to conceal their origin.

Although Mr. Wilson's first years in Hong Kong were spent working on the frontier between China and Hong Kong, he then moved into the "fraud squad" or as it was called then the Commercial Crime Bureau. While working in the squad Mr. Wilson set up the anti-money laundering unit and three years later moved to the organised crime unit.

Hunting down criminal money in Hong Kong sounds like the stuff of a box-office smash. And Mr. Wilson conceded there were moments of excitement in the job, but ultimately he said there were many mundane moments and lots of paperwork.

Mr. Wilson was armed (as all Hong Kong police officers were) but in his line of work with anti-money laundering he said he never had to resort to using a weapon - or even drawing the gun for that matter.

Why the switch to the private sector? For Mr. Wilson, an opportunity with JP Morgan Bank in New York prompted him to trade in his badge for a suit and tie.

He said: "I reached a point in Hong Kong where I just needed more of a challenge and made the decision to go into the private sector. After 18 years as a policeman I wanted to broaden my horizons. And my work in the private sector is similar to what I was doing in the police except that I am not arresting people.

"I do miss being a policeman but you have to move on. Certainly there were exciting times, but there was also a lot of mundane work," he said.

After two years with JP Morgan, Mr. Wilson made the decision to join the Bank of Butterfield.

It was not a difficult decision to make he said as he already knew he liked Bermuda - Mr. Wilson's first post as a policeman outside of the UK was in 1986 when he worked on the Island at the St. George's police station.

When Mr. Wilson joined the bank in February, 2001 there were already systems in place to catch suspicious banking but after his hire Mr. Wilson said policies and procedures were instituted with more of an anti-money laundering focus. And he said every account opened at the Bank of Butterfield goes through a system of checks to ensure the funds banked are legitimate.

Mr. Wilson revealed that all bank staff participate in annual anti-money laundering training. And they are trained to explain to people why we are looking for certain information.

Mr. Wilson said: "We don't expect or want staff to interrogate people. They are asking questions in the normal course of business and then if there are any concerns those come through to this department."

The department has four full-time compliance officers and others within bank departments that have a compliance function.

When asked if there were enough suspicious transactions to warrant a full-time compliance department, Mr. Wilson said: "Yes there is, without a doubt, and the events of September 11 brought it (the need) into greater focus."

Mr. Wilson said the bank's system of checks aimed to catch any potential fraudsters at the outset: "Through know your customer (KYC) we try and get as much information as possible from those wishing to open an account at the bank; who they are, where is the money coming from, what type of activity the money is intended for. If there is anything suspicious we would do an investigation," he said.

Mr. Wilson added: "If it warrants reporting to the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) of the Bermuda Police - as we can through the Proceeds of Crime Act - we will turn over the case to the police.

Mr. Wilson added that all information on company accounts was kept confidential unless a court order or search warrant was received.

"We liaise with the FIU a lot. But reports we make are confidential and the police take it from there, if they feel they need to," he said.

The bank assesses potential account holders based on information provided by the customer and through searches of public databases. The bank is also currently assessing the feasibility of monitoring account activity through a software programme.