Mr. Simmons has worked directly with a wide spectrum of organizations, including global and community banks, non‑bank financial institutions, money services businesses, and entities operating in the virtual asset space. His expertise is shaped by serving the financial sector from four uniquely different vantage points—Chief Compliance Officer/Bank Secrecy Officer, Auditor, Consultant, and Examiner—giving him a rare, comprehensive understanding of how each role approaches risk, oversight, and regulatory expectations.

In his regulatory capacity, Mr. Simmons served in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) as a Compliance and BSA Specialist Bank Examiner. During his tenure with the OCC, he was the functional Examiner-in-Charge (FEIC) on complex BSA and Compliance examinations, and the Supervisory Review Examiner for BSA/AML, fair lending, and CRA examinations.

Mr. Simmons spent more than a decade as a Review Board Member & Faculty for the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. ACAMS is the largest international membership organization for Anti-Financial Crime professionals.

Mr. Simmons served BB&T in Compliance Testing/Audit manager) and Regional Compliance Officer for Regions Financial. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Origin Bank, and in similar positions with other financial institutions. During his career he was responsible for all aspects of Regulatory Compliance. He devised comprehensive BSA/AML Programs including complex layers of investigations, an enhanced monitoring system to exceed Supervisory Expectations, and developed comprehensive risk assessments, audit schedules and compliance testing programs addressing a regulatory inventory of risks.

Building on this experience, Kenneth has evaluated the effectiveness of AML systems (such as Verafin, Actimize, FCRM, Bankers Toolbox, and FIS (Prime) and formulated opinions on the use of such systems. He also worked directly with the Bank Supervisory Agencies and legal staff regarding BSA/AML violations, MRAs and MRIAs, and consent order issuances. He has served in consultative roles providing guidance and direction to financial institutions regarding resolution of these matters, and has extensive familiarity with KYC programs, transaction monitoring (TM) and rules-based monitoring.

Mr. Simmons also served as an instructor for the OCC’s Advance Examination Schools for Regulatory Compliance, Bank Secrecy and Fair Lending.

In addition, he held the role of General Audit Manager for a multi-billion-dollar financial institution, and he served as a Compliance Officer for several financial institutions. He has lectured and published extensively on BSA and AML matters. His expert work has covered all of these areas, as well as best practices, record-keeping, FCRM, and financial scams, including pig-butchering and social engineering.

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Publications:

• Money-Laundering Schemes Involving Checking Accounts: Roles, Typologies, And How Victims Become Willing Participants. January 2026

• Bridging the Divide: The Critical Relationship Between Virtual Asset Service Providers and Traditional Financial Institutions. October 2025

• Strengthening the Core: Why Community Banks Should Invest in AML Expertise to Mature Their Risk Programs. September 2025

• Addressing AML Deficiencies and Oversight in Banks. 2024

• Overcome BSA/AML Supervisory Criticism. 7/2019 AMLology

• Powers of Attorney (Relative – Thief – Confidant), Association of Certified Anti-Money laundering Specialists, (anticipated June 2017) – An evaluation of the use of Powers-of-Attorney in the U.S.; and the risks associated with the acceptance of a POA.

• Utilizing NAICS codes to increase the effectiveness of your BSA/AML program, ACAMS Connection (Magazine) and ACAMSToday.org, August 31, 2016

• Learning from the Mistakes of Others, Matters Requiring Attention, Association of Certified Anti-Money laundering Specialists, December 2013 – 46 page white-paper analyzing the OCC’s confidential examination reports of 137 financial institutions issued Supervisory criticism (matters requiring attention). Analysis considers root causes, correlation of 4-pillars, and best practices. This is the only published report authorized by the Office of the Comptroller Currency. 2013

• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, Southern Exposure Magazine, Office of the Comptroller Currency, June 2012.

Speaking Engagements:

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21st Annual International Anti-Money Laundering Conference, Hollywood Fl., 2017 

• Banking Money Service Businesses 

• Challenges facing Financial Institutions under $30b. 

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Community Bankers Association, Advanced BSA/AML and Compliance School, 2016 

• Increasing the effectiveness of your BSA/AML program 

  
  

Bankers Toolbox Users AML Conference, Austin Texas, 2016 

• Increasing effectiveness of AML system 

• System Rules and Alerts 

• Enhancing your most valuable asset, Human Capital

  
  

 ACAMS 2014 AML Conference, Las Vegas NV, 2014 

• Reliance on other Assurance providers an Industry Best Practice.

• Smart AML Auditing: Exploring non-traditional approaches to meet regulatory expectations 

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ACAMS 2013 AML Conference, Las Vegas NV, 2013 

• Meeting regulatory expectations to further strengthen the AML/BSA risk assessment and AML audit risk assessment practices 

• Preparing an AML audit regulators can rely on

• AML Audit Intelligence