The Issue with the Bank's Anti-Money Laundering Independent Review

A

According to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and best practices, financial institutions are required to conduct independent reviews of their AML programs to ensure that they are effectively detecting and preventing money laundering and other illicit activities. These reviews are typically conducted by a group outside of the AML program, such as an internal audit department or an external consultant, and must be performed on an annual basis.

Based on the information provided in the question, the bank in question is preparing for its AML independent review, which is performed every two years under the direction of the compliance officer. However, the review is to be conducted by the bank's corporate audit department, which is an internal group that is part of the bank. This raises a potential conflict of interest, as the audit department may not be truly independent and objective in its review of the AML program.

Therefore, the issue with this situation is that the review must be performed by a group outside of the bank, as stated in answer choice B. This ensures that the review is truly independent and objective, and is not influenced by the bank's management or other internal factors. Additionally, the answer choices A and C are incorrect, as there is no specific requirement that independent reviews be performed annually, and the final report does not necessarily need to be presented directly to the board of directors. Answer choice D is also incorrect, as there is no information in the question to suggest that there is a conflict of interest with the management of the review process.