With the British Virgin Islands vowing its commitment to a beneficial ownership public register, financial crime expert Martin Woods turns his attention toward how the U.K. and U.S. are progressing in the space.
AML
Three tips on how to design financial crime training with impact
Simone Jones of the International Compliance Association offers three ways to get employees to both embrace financial crime training and use the knowledge learned in their daily roles.
With ‘FinCEN Files,’ don’t shoot the messenger
It’s important we understand with the “FinCEN Files” that the enemy is not a journalist, a regulator, or a banker. The enemy is the money launderer, and this is where we need to focus our thinking and resources, writes Martin Woods.
Improve Compliance Team Efficiency by Automating AML Workloads
Compliance teams are under increasing pressure to reduce risk and drive financial crime out of their institutions with limited resources.
BoA a silver lining in damning ‘FinCEN Files’ report; Wells Fargo CEO puts foot in mouth
Bank of America gets a pat on the back for going beyond an “observe and report” approach to filing a SAR, and we learned this week that Wells Fargo’s CEO needs a little unconscious bias training.
‘FinCEN Files’ show Europe’s AML efforts maybe aren’t so world class
The damning revelations from the “FinCEN Files” leaks have once again put Europe and its supposed world-leading anti-money laundering rules under the spotlight.
Westpac set to pay record $912.6M civil penalty for AML failures
Westpac is bracing for a record AUD$1.3 billion (U.S. $912.6 million) civil penalty issued by Australia’s financial crime regulator related to a money-laundering scandal and the facilitation of child exploitation in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
‘FinCEN Files’ fallout: Where do banks go from here?
The “FinCEN Files” report raises the question: What should banks be doing to address the trillions of dollars’ worth of banking transactions that are facilitating criminal activity every year?
FinCEN leaks impart key lessons on basics of writing SARs
Martin Woods, who has analyzed many of the suspicious activity reports released as part of the “FinCEN Files,” offers best practices for compliance officers in writing SARs.
‘FinCEN Files’ highlight bank leadership flaws, not compliance flaws
Compliance has been taking some heat in the wake of the “FinCEN Files” reports, but it’s banks’ senior leadership that failed, not the folks filing all those SARs.


