All AML articles – Page 6
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Blog
Holy Orders: Vatican Picks Up Pace in AML Fight
Image: In recent years money laundering has engulfed numerous international institutions, such as the Vatican, which has been roundly criticized by Italian prosecutors for both its failure to carry out appropriate due diligence over its customers and its inability to track suspicious transactions. Those criticisms have led to some dramatic ...
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Blog
FinCEN Proposes AML Regulations for Investment Advisers
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is proposing a rule that would require investment advisers to establish anti-money laundering programs, file Currency Transaction Reports, and report suspicious activity. While the Bank Secrecy Act does not expressly include “investment adviser” among its list of entities defined as a financial institution, ...
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Blog
Fed to China Construction Bank: Fix AML Controls
The U.S. Federal Reserve and the New York Department of Financial Services in an enforcement action this week ordered China Construction Bank and its New York branch to significantly improve its compliance operations. The bank and the branch have 60 days to jointly submit a written enhanced compliance program in ...
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Blog
Banamex USA Fined $140M for AML Violations
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today imposed a civil penalty of $140 million against Banamex USA for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. The FDIC imposed the penalty on the same day that Citigroup, which purchased Mexico-based Banamex in 2001, said it would be ...
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Article
Firms Prepare for Heightened AML, Due Diligence Expectations
Expect an even greater focus on anti-money laundering efforts in upcoming examinations by the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. That was the message from speakers at a “Compliance Outreach Program” the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted for financial firms last week. What’s more: New Treasury Department rules that could ...
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Blog
New Zealand to Extend AML Efforts
In a keynote speech today at the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering in Auckland, New Zealand's Justice Minister Amy Adams said the government has begun preliminary work to extend anti-money laundering compliance obligations on more professions and companies, including lawyers, accountants, and businesses that deal in high-value goods, subjecting ...
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IMF: U.S. Must Tackle Shell Companies, Beneficial Ownership
A new report from the IMF faults the United States for turning a blind eye to shell companies and unclear beneficial ownership—that is, the parties that really control a company or its related bank accounts, even if they do so behind the scenes. That loose approach, the report says, “creates ...
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Cyber-Security, AML Deficiencies Flagged in OCC Risk Review
As banks try to close the profitability gap created by a lingering low-interest rate environment and offer new services to customers, they face escalating compliance risks. Cyber-security and anti-money laundering controls are among the concerns flagged by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in its “Semiannual Risk Perspective.” ...
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Article
FIFA Fallout Has Banks Fearing Due Diligence Failures
The FIFA corruption scandal has pulled many banks—HSBC, Barclays, Citigroup, Bank of America—into its orbit, although none have tumbled into the black hole just yet. The case does, however, send a vivid message on the importance of enhanced due diligence processes. “It is not enough to know your customer,” says ...
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Blog
State Street Anticipating Enforcement Action
State Street disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it expects to become the subject of an enforcement action brought by the Federal Reserve and the Massachusetts Division of Banks for deficiencies in the bank’s compliance program relating to the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money ...
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Blog
FinCEN Targets Money Laundering in Real Estate Deals
Image: Expect a greater focus on the use of real estate holdings as a vehicle for money laundering, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of FinCEN, said recently. The goal: “Make it more difficult for criminals to hide their purchases of luxury real estate through the use of shell companies.” Moreover, she ...
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Blog
HSBC Disciplines U.S. Executive Over Compliance Attitude
HSBC has decided to reassign the Americas head of its global banking division because of the manager’s poor attitude about the bank’s compliance and audit program, according to an update from its compliance monitor. The report cited that move as one example of HSBC’s improvement on compliance, while still warning ...
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Blog
AML Efforts Face Renewed Focus on SARs, Beneficial Ownership Data
Financial institutions should prepare for even greater scrutiny on their anti-money laundering efforts. Pending legislation and rulemaking will smooth the way for regulatory probes to use beneficial ownership information, and to expand the use of Suspicious Activity Reports, regulators said this week.
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Blog
$1.45B Commerzbank Settlement Hits AML Controls
Germany-based Commerzbank and its U.S. branch, Commerz New York, will pay a total of $1.45 billion in penalties to resolve criminal charges for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. The settlement provides a litany of lessons on the importance of implementing proper anti-money ...
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Blog
Transparency Watchdog Calls for End to Money Laundering ‘Impunity’
Image: Title: UgazTransparency International is calling on governments around the world to join together to end money laundering. The group says authorities should make it their highest priority to prosecute individuals and banks for conducting illicit financial transactions. TI board chairman Jose Ugaz said the lack of senior ...
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Blog
EU Raises ‘Loophole Risk’ With New AML Regime
Transparency advocates are giving tempered praise to a new anti-money laundering regime proposed this month by representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The new rules would mandate that member states create centralised registers of beneficial ownership behind companies, but outsiders such as journalists or ...
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Blog
JP Morgan Outlines Compliance Overhaul
JP Morgan, the Wall Street bank that has racked up more than $23 billion in regulatory fines since the financial crisis, has released a 100-page report detailing its efforts to improve compliance, culture, and internal controls. The report, “How We Do Business,” was in response to pressure from shareholder activists ...
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Blog
Former MoneyGram CCO Fined $1 Million
Image: MoneyGram International’s former chief compliance officer, Thomas Haider, has been fined $1 million by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for failing to ensure that his company abided by the anti-money laundering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act. Concurrently, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of ...
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Article
Regulators Publish Latest Thinking on AML Compliance
Image: Financial regulators have just updated their examination manual for anti-money laundering compliance, giving financial firms plenty of holiday reading on how they should structure their AML programs. “The big changes are in areas where things have moved forward: virtual currency, prepaid cards, changes in the SAR rules, aggregation for ...
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Article
Why Anti-Money Laundering Programs Aren’t Just for Banks Anymore
Image: After years of hunting money launderers by scrutinizing transaction at big banks, regulators are widening their nets to include luxury goods retailers, casinos, technology companies, and others. The Feds are holding more businesses accountable for questionable transactions and pushing those at risk to beef up AML compliance. “All companies, ...