ACAMS
Today Europe
Style Guide2024

By following these guidelines, ACAMS can ensure consistency
that will result in a timely and informational publication for ourreaders.

ACAMS Today Europe
British English

Table of ContentsA...........................................................................................................................................
ACADEMIC DEGREESACAMS
ACCENTSACH
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTACPOACRONYMSACTADVISERADVOCATE
AFGHANS
AFMLS
AKA
AL-QAIDA
AMID
AML
AMLSCUAMONGAPEC
APOSTROPHEARAASIAN, ASIATIC
AWARDS

B............................................................................................................................................
BEHAVIOURBIBLE
BITCOIN
BMPE
BOX-TICKING
BRACKETS
BSA
BSA/AML
BULLET POINTSBUREAUBYLINE

C…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
CAMS-AUDITCAMS-FCIDCANCELLEDCANNOT
CASH-INTENSIVE BUSINESSES
CASH-OUT
CASH-OUT LIMITSCATCH-22
CDD FINAL RULE
CENSUSCENTRECENTURY
CITIES
CLEARING HOUSE(S)CLIFFS NOTESCOLD WAR
COLON
COMBATTINGCOMMACOMMITTEECOMPOSITION TITLESCONGRESSCONTRACTIONSCOUNTER-TERRORIST FINANCINGCROWDFUNDING
CROWDSOURCINGCRYPTO ASSETSCRYPTO FINANCE
CRYPTOCURRENCYCTRCURRENCYCYBER-ATTACKEDCYBER-ATTACKER
CYBERATTACKINGCYBERATTACK(S)CYBERCOPSCYBERCRIMECYBERCRIMINALSCYBER-ENABLEDCYBER-EVENTSCYBER FRAUDCYBERSECURITYCYBERSPACECYBERTERRORISMCYBERTERRORISTCYBERTHEFTCYBERTHIEVESCYBERTHREAT(S)...........................................................................................................................................
DATA
DATES
DAY-TO-DAY
DECISION-MAKER

DECISION-MAKINGDOJDRE.............................................................................................................................................

F

E-BOOK
EDD
E.G.
E-GOLDEGMONT GROUPENQUIRIESEMAILEM DASH
EMPHASIS ADDEDENTERPRISE-WIDEEU AML AUTHORITYEUROPEAN UNIONEXECUTIVEBRANCH.............................................................................................................................................

GHFAÇADEFACE TO FACEFARC
FATF RECOMMENDATIONSFAVOURFAVOURABLE
FEDERAL
FIFTH AML DIRECTIVE (5AMLD)FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFINTECHFIU
FOOTNOTESFOREIGN WORDS
FOUNDING FATHERSFOURTH AML DIRECTIVE (4AMLD)FRONT LINEFTFS..........................................................................................................................................
GDPR
GOVERNMENTGREY LISTGROUNDBREAKING
GUARDIAN...........................................................................................................................................
HEADLINESIHEAT MAP(S)HEZBOLLAH
HIDTA
HIGH-RISKHIGHER RISKHUMAN TRAFFICKING...............................................................................................................................................

K

I.E.
INTERNETIOTISIL............................................................................................................................................
KYC
KYCCKYEL……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

M
N

LEAGUE OF NATIONSLOOK-BACKS.........................................................................................................................................
MEMBER STATESMLROMONEYVALMSB
MULTIMUST-HAVE(S)...........................................................................................................................................

O

NATIONAL SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH
NATIONWIDENATONERVE-WRACKINGNONCOMPLIANCE
NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS (NFTS)NON-GOVERNMENTALNON-RESIDENTNONPROFITNUMBERS..........................................................................................................................................P

OCDETF
OFAC
OLD-FASHIONEDOSAMA BIN LADEN............................................................................................................................................

QRS

PANELLISTPASSPORTPASTORPEOPLE/PERSONSPERCENTAGE
POLICYMAKERSPROGRAMMESPROGRAMMING..........................................................................................................................................
QUOTE MARKS............................................................................................................................................
RECORD KEEPINGREGTECH
ROAD MAP(S)ROLLOUT
ROLL-OUT.............................................................................................................................................

TSAR
SDN
SIDE BY SIDE/SIDE-BY-SIDE
SIXTH AML DIRECTIVE (6AMLD)SMASH AND GRAB
STAND-ALONESTATESTATEWIDESTORED VALUE CARD.............................................................................................................................................
TABLEAU
THEREFOR AND THEREFORE
THIRDHAND
TIME
TIME FRAMETITLESU............................................................................................................................................
UKUN

USV

UNSUSPECTING
UP-TO-DATE...........................................................................................................................................
VASP

W

XY.........................................................................................................................................
WATCHLIST(S)WEB
WEBSITEWESTERN
WHILST
WHITEBOARD
WHITE HOUSE
WHITE PAPER
WITHDRAWWITHDRAWAL
WORKING GROUP(S)WORLDWIDE...........................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Z

YEARS

.............................................................................................................................................

A

academic degrees
Lowercase degree if it is followed by the area of focus. Example: a master's
degree in criminal justice. If it does not follow the area of focus, capitalise thedegree. Example: Master of Science.
ACAMS
accents
Use French, German, Portuguese, Spanish accents, etc. People’s names, inwhatever language should also be given appropriate accents where known.
Example: Arsène Wenger was on holiday in Bogotá with Rafael Benítez.
ACHAutomated Clearing House
acknowledgement
ACPO
Association of Chief Police Officers
acronyms
Acronyms should be defined. Format: Term spelled out (acronym in parenthesis).
Do not place the acronym in quotations. Your article should continue to use only
the acronym, once the term is already first introduced. The first instance of any
acronym needs to be spelled out. Exceptions to this rule are if they occur in theheadline or within a quote.
actCapitalise act when it is part of the name for a pending or implemented
legislation: the Taft-Hartley Act.
adviser
Not advisor
advocate
Member of the Scottish bar (not a barrister)Afghans
Afghanis when referring to people
AFMLS
Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section
akaAlso known as
al-Qaida
amid
Not amidst
AML
Anti-money laundering
AMLSCU
Anti-Money Laundering & Suspicious Cases Unit and is the financial intelligenceunit of the United Arab Emirates
amongNot amongst
APEC
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
apostrophe (‘) PLURAL NOUNS NOT ENDING IN S: The alumni’s contributions, women’srights PLURAL NOUNS ENDING IN S: Add only an apostrophe: the churches’ needs, thegirls’ toys, the horses’ food, etc. NOUNS PLURAL IN FORM, SINGULAR IN MEANING: Onlyadd an apostrophe: General Motors’ profits, the United States’ wealth, etc. SINGULARNOUNS NOTENDING IN S: Add ‘s. The church’s needs, the girl’s toys, the horse’s food,the ship’s route, the VIP’s seat. SINGULAR PROPER NAMES ENDING IN S: Only add anapostrophe: Achilles’ heel, Agnes’ book, Hercules’ labours, Moses’ law.

ARA
Assets Recovery Agency
Asian, Asiatic
Use Asian or Asians when referring to people. Some Asians regard Asiatic as
offensive when applied to people.

awards
Capitalise and italicize award names. For instance: ACAMS Today Article of theYear Award.

Bbehaviour
Bible
Capitalise, without quotation marks. Lowercase bible as a nonreligous term: My
dictionary is my bible.
bitcoinLowercase all references to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, consistent withthe style for conventional currency.
BMPEBlack Market Peso Exchange
box-ticking
bracketsIf a whole sentence is within brackets, put the full stop inside. Square brackets
should be used for interpolations in direct quotations: “Let them [the poor] eatcake.” To use ordinary brackets implies that the words inside them were part ofthe original text from which you are quoting.
BSA
Bank Secrecy Act
BSA/AMLBank Secrecy Act/anti-money launderingbullet points
If the bullet point is a complete sentence, end it in a period and capitalise thefirst letter of the first word. If it is a list, capitalise the first letter of the first word, end
the bullets with a semicolon and end the last bullet with a period.

Bureau
Capitalise when part of a formal name for an organization or agency (Example:the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Lowercase when used alone.
bylineBylines are placed at the end of the article. It should be written as follows: firstname and last name, CAMS (if you have this designation), title, company, city,state or province, country, email address.

CCAMS-Audit
ACAMS Advanced AML Audit Certification
CAMS-FCIACAMS Advanced Financial Crimes Investigations Certification
cancelledcannotcash-intensive businessescash-out
cash-out limits
Catch-22
CDD Final Rule
Capitalise Rule when referring to the CDD Final Rule.
censusCapitalise only in specific references to the US Census Bureau. Lowercase inother uses: The census data was released Tuesday.
Centrecentury

Lowercase and spell out numbers less than 10: the first century, the 20th century.
For proper names, follow the organisation’s practice: 20th Century Fox,
Twentieth Century Fund.
citiesCity with a capital, even though City is not an integral part of their names:
Guatemala City New York City, Ho Chi Minh City Panama City, Kuwait CityQuebec City, Mexico City, City also takes a capital when it is part of the name:
Dodge City Quezon City, Kansas City Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City
clearing house(s)Cliffs Notes
Cold Warcolon
Use between two sentences, or parts of sentences, where the first introduces aproposition that is resolved by the second. Example: Fowler put it like this: todeliver the goods invoiced in the preceding words.
A colon, rather than a comma, should be used to introduce a quotation: “Hewas an expert on punctuation,” or to precede a list – “He was an expert on thefollowing: the colon, the comma and the full stop.”
A colon is not normally followed by a capital letter in British usage. Only if it is aproper noun or an acronym.
combattingcomma
Do not add a comma before the concluding conjunction. Example: I have adog, cat, bird, rabbit and a duck.
committee
Capitalise when part of a formal name: the House Appropriation Committee. Do
not capitalise committee in shortened versions of long committee names, forexample: the appropriation committee.
Composition titles
Italicize all magazines, newspapers, reference books, books, films, TV shows, art,speeches, conferences, etc. Article titles and thesis titles should be in quotes. For
names of laws, capitalize all words in a title except articles.
Congresscontractions
Do not use contractions. For instance, spell out the words: can’t, don’t, won’t,haven’t, etc. Only use contractions if there is a contraction within a quote used.
Counter-terrorist financing
Counter-terrorist financing (CTF)
crowdfunding
crowdsourcing
crypto assets
crypto financecryptocurrency
CTR
currency transaction reportcurrency
Spell out and lowercase the word when used in text. For example: 150 million
dollars, 150 million US dollars if there is a mixture of dollar currencies. Use symbols
in charts and graphs. When using symbols: euros: €7m, €25bn, €2tn dollars: $7m,$25bn, $2tn, pound: £7m, £25bn, £2tn. US$ if there is a mixture of dollar
currencies.
cyber-attacked
cyber-attacker
cyberattacking
cyberattack(s)cybercops
cybercrime
cybercriminals
cyber-enabledcyber-eventscyber fraud
cybersecurity
cyberspacecyberterrorism
cyberterrorist
cybertheftcyberthieves
cyberthreat(s)Ddata
The word typically takes singular verbs and pronouns when writing for generalaudiences and in data journalism contexts: The data is sounddates
day month year (no commas). Example: 21 July 2016
day-to-day
decision-makerdecision-making
DOJ
Department of Justice
DrNo periods. Used at first mention for people practising as a doctor in the field inwhich they gained that qualification, including medical and academic doctors.

Ee-book
EDD
Enhanced Due Diligencee.g.
not followed by a commae-goldEgmont Groupenquiries
em dash (—)
An em dash often demarcates a break of thought. Em dashes can be used inplace of commas to enhance readability.
emphasis added
If you are italicising a word or sentence within a quote (in order to emphasise it),write emphasis added in brackets. For instance: “The dog went to the park andfound the missing toy [Emphasis added].”enterprise-wide
EU AML Authority
For European Anti Money Laundering Authority. Use EU AML Authority on allinstances.
European Union
Use EU on all instances, no periodsexecutive branch
Always lowercase

Ffaçadeface to face
Only hyphenate adjective before a noun.
FARC
First time FARC is introduced it should be listed as the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC). On subsequent references it should be FARC andnot the FARC.
FATF Recommendations
When referring to one of the FATF Recommendations, do not spell out thenumber. For instance, instead of FATF Recommendation eight, use FATF
Recommendation 8.
favourfavourable
federalLowercase when used as an adjective to distinguish it from state, county, city,
town or private entities: federal assistance, federal court, the federal
government, a federal judge. Capitalise when used as part of a formal name:the Federal Trade Commission.
Fifth AML Directive (5AMLD)
financial institutions
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Inc. (C),Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), MetLife Inc. (MET),
Morgan Stanley (MS), etc.
fintechFIU
financial intelligence unit
footnotes

The footnote superscript should be placed after the punctuation mark. If it is aquoted sentence, place the footnote after the quotation mark. However, if it is
only defining a single word in the sentence, the superscript footnote should beplaced next to the word.
Citation rules are as follows: First name and last name, source title, and page
number(s).
Web sources: First name and last name, “Title of the article,” Publishingorganization or name of website in italics, publication date, access date if
available, URL.
Online magazines/newspapers: First name and last name, “title of article,”
Name of magazine or newspaper in italics, publication date (day, month, year)/or access date if available, URL.
foreign words
Place foreign words in italics and provide an explanation. For instance: ad astra
per aspera, a Latin phrase meaning “to the stars through difficulty.”
Founding Fathers
Capitalise when referring to the creators of the US Constitution.
Fourth AML Directive (4AMLD)
front line (n.) front-line (adj.)
FTFs
foreign terrorist fighters

GGDPR
General Data Protection Regulation
government
Always lowercase, never abbreviate: the federal government, the state
government, the US government.
Grey list
Jurisdictions under increased monitoring are actively working with the FATF toaddress strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering,terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. This list is often referred to as the“grey list.”
groundbreaking
The GuardianHheadlines
For print publication capitalise only the first word and any proper nouns. For Web
publication use up-style: Capitalise the first letter of the first and last words andof all words besides short (fewer than five letters) articles, conjunctions
and prepositions. Short verbs, nouns and adjectives are capitalised; for example,
in There Will Be Blood, (Be is capitalised because it is a verb).
heat map(s)Hezbollah
HIDTA
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
high-risk
higher risk
human trafficking
Human trafficking should be lowercased, unless it is the first word of a sentence.
In addition, the first time it is introduced write the word followed by: (HT).

Ii.e.
Not followed by a commainternet

Net, web, world wide web
IoTInternet of things
ISIL
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Also acceptable is the acronym IS. The UN
refers to it as ISIL or as it is known by its Arabic name Da’esh.

KKYC
know your customer
KYCC
know your customer’s customer
KYE
know your employee

L

League of Nations
look-backs

M

member states
MLRO
money laundering reporting officer

MONEYVALnot Moneyval
MSB
money services business. Also, MSB should be preceded by an and not a.
multiIn general, do not use a hyphen with “multi.” For example: multicolored,multilateral, multimillion, multimillionaire.
must-have(s)N

National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention MonthnationwideNATO
Acceptable in all references for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
nerve-wrackingnoncompliance
non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
non-governmental
non-resident
nonprofit
numbers
Everything lower than 10 is spelled out. However, when starting a sentence witha number, the number should always be spelled out.

O

OCDETF
Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces
OFAC
Office of Foreign Assets Control
old-fashioned
Osama bin LadenP

Panellist
Passport
pastorLowercase “pastor.” Do not use pastor before an individual’s name. However, if
it appears before a name in a quotation, capitalise it.
people/persons
Plural: people Formal: persons
percentageWhen writing percentages, write the number and use the percent symbol, withno space. For example: 10%
Policymakers
Programmes
Programming

Q

Quote marks
Use double quotes at the start and end of a quoted section, with single quotes
for quoted words within that section.
When beginning a quote with a sentence fragment that is followed by a fullsentence, punctuate according to the final part of the quote. Example: The
minister called the allegations “blatant lies. But in a position such as mine, it isonly to be expected.”
Use double quotation marks for words that are not actually quotations. Example:
These are the people who put the “style” in style guide.
Headlines and standfirsts, captions and display quotes all take single quotemarks.

Rrecord keeping
RegtechRegulatory technology, also known as a “regtech” is a new field within
the financial services industry that uses information technology to enhance
regulatory processes. It puts a particular emphasis on regulatory monitoring,
reporting and compliance and is thus benefiting the finance industry.
road map(s)rollout (n.)
roll-out (adj.)SSARsuspicious activity report
SDN
Specially Designated Nationals
side by side/side-by-side
Use side by side if it is an adverb and side-by-side if it is an adjective
Sixth AML Directive (6AMLD)
smash and grab
stand-alone (adj.)
state
Lowercase state and keep it lowercased in all state of constructions: the state ofMaine, the state of Maine and Vermont, etc.
statewidestored value card

TTableauplural tableaux
therefor and therefore
Therefore means for that reason, consequently or thus, whereas therefor without
the E just means for that or for it. For example: Therefore, the Court found theevidence unconvincing. Therefor example: The applicant must submit theapplication form and any supporting documentation therefor in two weeks'time.

thirdhand
time
Use the 24-hour clock Example: 00:47, 23:59; noon, midnight (not 12 noon, 12
midnight or 12am, 12pm).
time frame
Two words
titlesCapitalise titles if they are used directly before an individual’s name. For
instance: Executive Vice President Jane Smith. Lowercase the title if the nameand the title are set apart by commas: Jane Smith, executive vice president,
said she loved the conference.

U

UK
Use this abbreviation for United Kingdom
UN
Use this abbreviation for United Nations
US
Use this abbreviation for United States
unsuspecting
up-to-date

VVASPsvirtual asset service provider

Wwatchlist(s)webwebsite
WesternWhilst
Not whilewhiteboard
White House
Also capitalise White House officials.
white paper
Lower casewithdraw(verb) To remove (money) from a bank account; to take (something) back, sothat it is no longer available; to take back (someone that is spoken, offered,etc.). For example: She withdrew $200 from her checking account or They havewithdrawn the charges.
withdrawal(noun) The act of withdrawing; the process of giving up a narcotic drug,
typically accompanied by distressing physical and mental effects. For example:
The general authorized the withdrawal of troops from the fields or She
experienced symptoms of nicotine withdrawal after she quit smoking.
working group(s)worldwideYyears
Use an s without an apostrophe to indicate spans of decades or centuries: the1890s, the 1800s. Always use figures when referring to a span of time, (e.g. 1 to 2years).