BSA programs: Preparing your succession planning

March 18, 2026

Amy Wotapka, CAMS

The idea of training one’s successor at work can result in various emotions and thoughtful questions like:

Am I setting myself up to be replaced by someone who has better technical skills, earns less, has great social skills, more certifications or degrees, etc.?
Will the training effort take away from my daily productivity?
Is the right candidate currently on the team?
Will training the person result in them seeking a role at another institution? After all, job hopping is real.
Why go through the exercise when the company is likely to hire externally anyway?

The answers are as follows:

Perhaps.
Perhaps, but it may ultimately make you more productive.
If you do not currently know, it does not reflect well on you.
Give them reasons to stay!
The answer can be found below.

While the answers to the questions are nebulous and will change with each person reading this article, succession planning is critical for the continued smooth operation of an anti-money laundering (AML) program. Your AML program is your baby―do not leave it in the hands of someone you have not vetted. You may not always have a say in who succeeds you, but you can certainly tip the scales by hand-selecting a potential replacement and training them. Your board of directors and other stakeholders may thank you for your proactive approach to this part of business continuity.

Perhaps you are thinking: “Huh, I’m decades away from retirement” or “I am not planning on going anywhere.” No one plans for a long-term out-of-office event, e.g., serious illness. Is there a promotion in your future? The future is uncertain; you should prepare to enact a plan to bring some certainty to the time ahead.

The time and effort in training your successor pays off in many ways for the employee, the program and you. Employee morale may soar when people are positioned for advancement. New eyes and thoughts can lead to efficiencies and program enhancements not previously considered. You can take on additional projects/tasks as you are able to delegate more. You can take vacations and know the program still has strong leadership on site (aka business continuity).

There is more in training your successor than in-depth knowledge of the program, risks, controls and regulations. The person succeeding you must be as well-rounded as you. After all, you do not simply sit at a desk and quote regulations all day. Take a deep look at all that you do day-to-day then build those functions, skills and knowledge into your succession training plan. Crucial skills like leadership, effective communication, strategic and critical thinking, as well as operational excellence must be nurtured and have time to grow.

Effect of succession planning on employee morale

According to a Forbes article by Jim Granat, “When an organization promotes from within, no matter the level, employees can see that their input and experience are truly valued. This can also lead to higher retention and engagement throughout the company since employees have room to grow and improve their careers. [It is] also a positive signal to entry-level employees interested in your company that you promote talent from within.”¹ As evidenced by numerous studies,² good workplace morale leads to higher productivity and higher retention rates.

"Too many leaders do not get it, but their own growth depends on helping others grow"

Succession planning becomes remarkably easier when someone, like an existing employee, already understands the history of the company and of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) program (what has been tried previously), systems, stakeholders, employees, risks and controls. An added benefit is that training costs are reduced.

Importantly, do not promise a promotion if it cannot be delivered. Promotion plans can be derailed by several factors like the economy, business plans (mergers/acquisitions, outsourcing), and changes in products or customer base that may fuel the need for someone with specialty knowledge (e.g., crypto). So, if you truly believe promoting from within is not feasible, be honest. Honesty builds trust. Trust―or lack thereof―affects morale.

Leadership

Perform an internet search on leadership skills and the result will be thousands of pages, links and posts on everything from courses (paid and free) to tips and tricks to pundits offering their experiences. The bottom line is not everyone is born to lead, and it is up to you to determine if your successor has the innate ability to lead the team, processes and program. So, how do you make the decision? Pay attention. Watch how they interact with levels above and below. Listen to their reasoning when explaining a decision or delegating a task. Give the person an opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills by leading meetings or difficult conversations while you are present.

To be clear, leadership and management are not the same

According to a Harvard Business School post, “Leadership … is the creation of positive, non-incremental change, including the creation of a vision to guide that change―a strategy―the empowerment of people to make the vision happen despite obstacles, and the creation of a coalition of energy and momentum that can move that change forward…. Management is getting the confused, misguided, unmotivated and misdirected to accomplish a common purpose on a regular, recurring basis.”³

Leaders often deal with nebulous concepts like conflict, relationships, morale, strategy and forward-thinking, while managers generally manage tangibles like project deadlines, processes and people.

As a strong and successful leader, you will also be equally invested in the advancement of your team, helping them to gain skills and build their careers. Too many leaders do not get it, but their own growth depends on helping others grow.⁴

While you will want to encourage your selected successor trainee to develop their own leadership style, stress the need for continuity of the team’s environment. Upheaval can create stress. Stress is not a welcome factor for high morale.

Communication―so much more than speaking and writing

There are so many levels to achieving effective communication orally and in writing. Effectively communicating is not an innate skill; it must be constantly and consistently developed and honed. First, build a transparent environment where your potential successor has access to the information and people to which you have access. Share contact lists. Copy the potential successor on emails, even when they are not a stakeholder. Blind copy if necessary, but there is a benefit to having others seeing the person in the communication channel. The potential successor can gauge language, tone and hierarchies from emails. The same can be said of meetings. The potential successor can be a silent participant, or you can further set them up for success by introducing them to stakeholders ahead of the transition.

Another key piece of advice―do not “red line” communications unless necessary. The potential successor will have their own manner of communication, so focus on ensuring that the tone, message and information is correct but not the actual verbiage. Red lining is a morale killer.

When issues are identified, encourage your trainee to troubleshoot potential solutions for presentation to you. This encourages not only critical thinking but also holistic thinking. Oftentimes there are multiple solutions to a problem. Thinking about the problem holistically provides the opportunity to consider upstream and downstream impacts, costs and training. Employee and stakeholder communication skills are not often available for practice at lower levels within the organization, so begin building those skills by offering the opportunity now. When a regulatory update is published, encourage your potential successor to draft procedural updates, train the team or email communications to the organization. After you have proofread, allow them to publish them. In addition to building their confidence, you will be positioning them as a subject-matter expert with stakeholders.

Addressing issues

It is important to train how to effectively address when things do not go as planned. Public relations specialist Molly McPherson espouses a three-step process: Own it, explain it, promise it.⁵ Forbes magazine adds a fourth step6―communicate the issue immediately. While sweeping something under the rug may be a first inclination, it must never become a solution. Train your successor to deal with problems head-on. The added benefit of addressing immediately is that the stress of waiting for the fallout is drastically shortened. You and your successor will know much faster what steps will be taken to remediate the situation.

Multiple potential successors

When you are fortunate enough to have multiple people vying for the role, nurture all of them. As stated previously, the future is uncertain. When succession time comes around, hopefully at least one of the individuals will still be with the organization and reporting to you. Hold consistent one-on-one meetings focused on growth, discussing wins and opportunities. At these meetings, it is important for communication lines to be open, honest and two-way. Often how an individual thinks of their skills or performance may not align with the view of their manager. Gaining alignment on areas for improvement is critical to successful growth.

Conclusion

While knowledge of regulatory compliance, risks and controls are important tools for the next leader of your team(s), do not underestimate the need for training soft skills. An upcoming retirement or promotion of a key operational individual can create workforce risk and potentially impact business continuity. The time to start training for your replacement is now.

Amy M. Wotapka, CAMS, BSA officer, first vice president, First American Bank, WI, USA, [email protected]