2022/23
Officers:
President: Chair
Carinta Mannarelli President, Global Currency Services Inc.
Carinta Mannarelli founded Global Currency Services Inc. in the year 2000. In her role as president, she has been honoured with several awards and recognitions including Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2002 (Guelph Business Enterprise Centre), has been nominated for the YMCA’s Women of Distinction award, has received several Employers awards and has been listed on Canada’s Top 100 Female Business Owners numerous times (published by Profit Magazine).
Director of Membership
Karene Lewis is a Certified Human Resources Professional, since 2014 and an active member of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), since 2010.
With over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, in both retail banking and credit unions. Karene is a seasoned professional, with experience in a variety of areas within the financial services sector, in roles such as Manager, Risk & Compliance, Business Relationship Manager, Branch Manager and Financial Services Officer. Karene’s areas of knowledge and expertise include: risk management, compliance management, managing high risk client relationships, AML/CFT, KYC, onboarding, monitoring, customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence and regulatory compliance.
Karene has held the position of Director of Membership for the Canadian MSB Association, since 2015. She became an active volunteer with the Canadian MSB Association, in 2013 and has since been a strong volunteer and contributor to various committees, including the Board of Directors, Conference Committee, Finance Committee, and Advocacy Committee.
Director of Advocacy
Marc Lemieux
Mr. Lemieux is a lawyer. He was trained in Canada’s two legal systems and is admitted to the Bars of Quebec and Ontario.
He founded Lemieux Business Law in 2015, a boutique law firm that focuses on the special needs of users and suppliers of banking, finance and payment services.
Prior to that, Me Lemieux practiced in the financial services group of a national law firm (McCarthy Tetrault, from 1990 to 2006) and a global law firm (Dentons Canada, from 2010 to 2015). He also served as Vice-President, Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary of a publicly-traded company in the energy sector (Gaz Metro, from 2007 to 2010).
His clients include money services businesses (crypto-currency distributors, providers of FX advice and products, domestic and cross-border money remitters, and operators of ATMs) and payment service providers.
Mr. Lemieux is a sessional lecturer at McGill’s Faculty of Law, where teaches Banking and Payment Law and Banking and Credit Law.
Director of Finance
Michael Cox, Finance & Risk Management Director, Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange
Michael Cox is the Chief Compliance, Officer, ACAMS certified and Finance & Risk Management Director for Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange. VBCE is the leading private foreign exchange company in Western Canada which partners with the top commercial banks to deliver a wide range of FX and payment services and products to ten of thousands of customers globally.
Michael has over 20 years of extensive experience overseeing and monitoring the implementation of a compliance regime including AML. He brings a culture of leadership, guidance and supervision to all employees in matters relating to compliance and risk management.
DIRECTOR AT COMMUNICATION
Georgia Stocia
Georgia Stoica, has over twenty years of financial service industry experience and specializes in the regulatory compliance of money remittance activities.
She is responsible for the internal compliance, anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism and sanctions programs of Globle Foreign Exchange Inc and Trans-Fast Remittance LLC (foreign entity registered in Canada).
Prior to joining the money remittance industry, Georgia was an auditor and regulatory specialist with major banks in Canada.
Georgia received a Bachelor of International Economics and Finance, a Bachelor of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration in International Business from international accredited universities. She is a certified anti-money laundering professional with extensive experience in the banking and remittance industries.
Directors at Large
President & CEO, Trustex Currency Trading Corporation
Yasser El-Riffaey is the Founder, President & CEO of Trustex Currency Trading Corporation, a company that specializes in corporate foreign exchange, helping corporations saving time and money in their FX business.
Yasser has been in the finance and foreign exchange field for more than 33 years, previously in his role as a Senior V.P. for the Americas for a large international corporation, with his extensive knowledge and experience, he created the first Virtual Trading Desk online. Yasser has served as a director on several boards of business organizations and was a member of a team raising 21 million dollars for the Spark of Life Campaign for a Neuroscience Program.
Peter Morcos, Head of AML & Compliance, WorldRemit Inc.
Peter has 9 years of experience in the financial crime sector ranging from Fraud, AML, Risk management and Compliance. He currently serves as the AML and Compliance officer for WorldRemit, one of the top 5 digital money remittances in Canada, where they facilitate sending transfers to loved ones overseas in over 150 countries through various options including bank deposit, mobile money and cash pickup. He is also a Partner for Reliance Compliance Solutions which assists financial entities across Canada with their regulatory requirements.
Peter is a finance professional, graduating with honours from Davenport University with a Bachelor of Finance, he is CAMS, CFCS, CFE and CFI certified. In his current role, Peter is responsible for overseeing independent audit reviews over AML programs and FINTRAC regulatory exams. Adjusting policies and procedures in accordance with regulatory recommendations. He is experienced with managing and maintaining regulatory compliance teams, program monitoring, analytical functions involved with PCMLTFA, Sanctions screening, training, relationship & wealth management, Anti-money laundering (AML) investigations, financial fraud investigations and KYC/CDD in international, domestic and local banks as well as in money remittance fintechs in the MSB sector.
Deanna Ladouceur, Chief Compliance Officer/CAMLO, Continental Currency Exchange.
Deanna is a certified anti-money laundering specialist and has over 17 years of knowledge within the MSB sector and has experience across all functions of an AML/ATF program. Over the years Deanna has used her analytic skills and experience to develop and implement systems and rule-based reports that aid in identifying certain types of transactions or higher risk behaviours. Deanna has played a leading role in the development and continued implementation of an anti-money laundering program for a large retail foreign exchange in the everchanging regulatory environment.
In her current role of Chief Compliance Officer/CAMLO Deanna oversees all aspects of the AML program including reporting to the management team, regulatory changes, new product launches, policy and procedure, privacy, sanction screening, and independent AML audit and regulator exams.
Deanna’s passions include promoting best practices and a culture of compliance
Mike Karagias has over 32 years of Financial Retail FX experience. He is presently the President of FX sales and operations for TXH the Exchange House based in Niagara Falls a company he founded in 2005.
Prior to that Mr. Karagias worked for Royal Bank of Canada for 15 years as a part of the National Management Team that developed the national strategy in delivering FX retail service for specialized markets, such as airports and International bridge locations.
Mike is a graduate of Waterloo University has held numerous leadership roles in the past supporting community initiatives within the Niagara Region.