​NEW ORLEANS -

Ally Financial chief compliance officer Daniel Soto received the 2014 ABA Distinguished Service Award which recognizes leadership, initiative and accomplishment in banking regulatory compliance management. The award, established in 1995, was presented at the American Bankers Association’s 28th annual Regulatory Compliance Conference in New Orleans this week.

The ABA Compliance Administrative Committee, composed of 12 leading bank executives in the compliance profession, selects the honoree.

 “Dan has been a generous contributor to the compliance industry over the past 30 years and has pioneered many of the concepts and practices well-known to many of us in the industry — beginning with his deep expertise with AML and branching out into consumer compliance,” said Megan Hodge, the vice chairman of ABA’s Compliance Administrative Committee.

“He is also a natural bridge-builder and has long utilized his strong relationships within the regulatory agencies to strengthen communication and partnerships between banks and regulators.” Continued Hodge, who is the chief compliance officer of RBC Bank.

Soto has been an active participant in ABA and the compliance arena for more than 25 years.

In addition to being a certified anti-money laundering specialist, Soto is a graduate of ABA’s Stonier School of Banking and was the founding chair of the Association of Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Specialists. He has previously served on the 2007-2008 Chairman’s Committee on BSA/AML Reform that issued A New Framework for Partnership, providing a blueprint for BSA/AML compliance improvement, and ABA’s Compliance Administrative Committee.

Soto also is a faculty member of ABA’s National Compliance School and a regular presenter at the ABA’s Regulatory Compliance Conference.

Before joining Ally Financial in 2009, Soto was the AML executive and compliance manager at Wachovia, now Wells Fargo. He was also the chief compliance officer for Royal Bank of Canada–Centura and spent eight years with Bank of America in the global anti-money laundering compliance function.

Prior to joining the private industry, Soto was in the public sector: first at the FDIC as a bank examiner and then at the Federal Reserve where he helped develop AML compliance examination procedures.