Stella M. Mendes, CAMS, is a Senior Managing Director and Head of the Financial Services Practice at FTI Consulting, focusing on financial institutions, bank governance and regulation. She has more than 25 years of diverse banking industry experience and is based in New York.

Since joining FTI Consulting, Ms. Mendes has led numerous BSA/AML reviews for banks, money service businesses, and other financial services providers. Ms. Mendes has established and enhanced BSA/AML/OFAC policies, procedures, and processes to ensure compliance with regulations and has led several compliance “look-back” reviews. Ms. Mendes consults with clients on BSA and anti-money laundering best practices and performs reviews and enhancements of BSA/AML/OFAC Risk Assessments and conducts anti-money laundering investigations as part of governmental investigations. She provides advisory services on regulatory responses, anti-money laundering training to banks and other financial services firms and gives webinars on regulatory compliance best practices. In addition, she assists clients with fair lending, CRA, UDAAP, TILA, Regulation O, and other regulatory compliance matters.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Ms. Mendes served as President and Chief Operating Officer for First National Bank of NY (FNBNY). Additionally, Ms. Mendes served as the Compliance & Bank Secrecy Officer for the Bank, interfacing with regulatory agencies and coordinating all communications and the regulatory exam process.

In her role as the bank’s Senior Compliance Officer, Ms. Mendes was responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive compliance, risk assessment and training programs for staff and the Board of Directors. In addition, Ms. Mendes was responsible for overseeing all compliance issues, including money laundering, terrorist financing activity, and violations of the BSA (include structuring transactions to evade reporting). In addition, she conducted Anti Money Laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and OFAC Compliance reviews and mock exams in preparing for regulatory examinations. She also managed client relationships and branch offices.

Ms. Mendes also has extensive bank operations experience. She established, reviewed and implemented various policies, procedures, internal controls, and work programs as well as designed and documented process work flows. In addition, in her previous capacity as a senior manager at a commercial bank, Ms. Mendes was responsible for the audit function, reviewed audit/exam findings and designed programs to ensure necessary corrective actions were implemented. She has been a core integration team member for three bank mergers, where she conducted due diligence for the compliance program; material contracts; and customer base and sales. In addition, she conducted skillset assessments and coordinated integration activities and training.
Ms. Mendes earned her B.S. Degree from Hofstra University. She is CAMS–certified, fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and is active in numerous professional organizations including, Hofstra Women in Leadership, New York Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association and The Cancer Center for Kids. She also serves on the Board of Trustees at Hofstra University.