Compliance lessons from Julius Baer’s ‘serious AML failings’
Compliance officers can learn a lot from the anti-money laundering compliance shortcomings at Julius Baer Group, as well as from what the bank is now doing to enhance its risk management and AML compliance controls.
Understanding the why in CDD
Compliance practitioners might know how to undertake customer due diligence, but may never ask themselves why and might have limited knowledge of other anti-money laundering areas.
Study: Post-financial crisis fines against financial institutions hit $36B
Global fines and penalties against financial institutions hit $36 billion last year, as ramifications from the financial crisis continue to reverberate throughout the financial services industry, according to a new report.
Experts weigh in on Brexit consequences for GDPR, AML, more
The wheels to the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union are finally in motion, but the hard work still remains as to what kind of future trading relationship the country has with the single market.
Effective AML training: Four questions to answer
There are a multitude of factors that need to be established when determining training requirements. What is clear is that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.
Mar. 19 | Can KYC compliance and customer experience coexist?
Remaining competitive in the modern financial world requires staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated financial crimes and fluid regulations across multiple jurisdictions.
Top ethics and compliance failures of 2019
From antitrust and privacy concerns in the tech world to compliance officer liability in the pharmaceutical industry to unethical practices in the banking and accounting professions, more than a dozen companies made Compliance Week’s list of the biggest compliance fails in 2019.
SEC bars former Goldman Sachs director over 1MDB scandal
Former Goldman Sachs Group executive Tim Leissner has settled charges brought by the SEC for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. His settlement includes a permanent bar from the securities industry.
Skills crucial to combating terrorist financing
The pernicious strength of terrorism is its element of surprise: Just when you think it’s disappeared, it rears its ugly head. A proven and effective method of preventing it is disrupting the financial networks used to fund it.
Swedbank announces governance overhaul, launches culture probe
Swedbank CEO Jens Henriksson announced the financial institution is making some major organizational changes “to create simpler and clearer decision-making structures to facilitate the realization of the bank’s strategy.”
Westpac accused of 23M violations of Australian AML rules
Australia’s financial crime regulator has accused Westpac Banking of committing over 23 million breaches of the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules.
Kroll, Coinfirm partner on crypto compliance
Kroll, a division of global advisor Duff & Phelps, announced it now offers crypto compliance and investigations solutions through a collaboration with blockchain analytics firm Coinfirm.
Alstom exec convicted of FCPA, money-laundering charges
A former Alstom executive was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in a multi-year, multi-million-dollar foreign bribery scheme and related money-laundering scheme in Indonesia.
DOJ recovers $700M in 1MDB scandal
Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman-turned-fugitive, has agreed to forfeit more than $700 million worth of assets that he and his family allegedly misappropriated from Malaysian’s sovereign-wealth fund, 1MDB.
EY accused in U.K. gold-laundering scheme
Big Four audit firm EY has been accused of covering up evidence of smuggling by an organized crime gang that was laundering British drug money through gold dealings, according to an investigation by the BBC.
Bill to expose shell companies passes House vote
A proposed bill to crack down on anonymous shell companies passed a House of Representatives vote Tuesday and will progress to the Senate.
Singapore regulator: Technology creates both challenges, opportunities
The evolution of technology is enabling myriad capabilities for regulatory and financial crime compliance, but it is also presenting complex financial crime risks, according to a representative from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the International Compliance Association’s second Asia Pacific (APAC) conference this week in Singapore.
Bill requiring shell companies to disclose ownership introduced in Senate
Aimed at fighting money laundering, newly proposed legislation looks to mandate full transparency from shell companies on ownership and also fosters greater communication between financial institutions and law enforcement agencies.
Embattled Swedbank names permanent CCO
Faced with numerous AML investigations, Swedbank made several significant moves this week, including naming a permanent CCO and agreeing to waive attorney-client privilege by handing over an internal report to local prosecutors.
FINMA publishes AML guidance on blockchain
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has published new guidance on how it applies AML rules to the financial services providers it supervises in the area of blockchain technology.
New FinCEN unit to focus on money laundering threats
FinCEN announced the launch of its newly created Global Investigations Division, with responsibility for targeting terrorist financing and money laundering threats, both domestically and internationally.
Embattled Danske hires HSBC compliance head
Danske Bank, embroiled in a substantial money laundering scandal, has added to its compliance team with the appointment of Simon Kingsbury as head of surveillance & investigation.
Yet another misstep by Danske results in firing of interim Danish CEO
Danske Bank has been forced to fire yet another board member—this time for mis-selling thousands of customers a wealth management product that charged excessive fees.
Public register pros trump cons
Harvard Law School’s Eli Goldston Professor of Law Matthew Stephenson discusses the benefits of public registers.
No proof in public register value
Consultant and independent director Geoff Cook offers evidence on why public registers are still lacking.
U.K. tax havens promise greater transparency on company ownership
Starting in 2021, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man will make records of company ownership public, which should please members of parliament who have argued that not doing so has made them vulnerable to financial crime.
Nordea raided over ML probe in Denmark
Scandinavian banking giant Nordea revealed its Copenhagen office was raided by Danish police as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged money laundering.
White paper: Global AML Screening: Leveraging Technology to Combat False Positives
Organizations across regulated industries are obligated to screen transactions and customers against sanctions lists in order to avoid transacting with sanctioned countries, individuals and entities.
Refinitiv, Napier partner to combat AML
Refinitiv has partnered with AML software provider Napier to offer a transaction monitoring solution designed to tackle emerging threats in financial crime.
Bill demands ownership reveals for shell companies
The newly proposed ILLICIT CASH Act would, for the first time, require shell companies to disclose their true owners to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
White paper: US in Focus: AML/KYC & Sanctions Fines 2008-2018
Over the past ten years, US regulators have increasingly prioritized the importance of strict AML law enforcement to effectively deter money laundering and terrorist financing activity, with over $24bn in AML, KYC and sanctions penalties levied.
Nordic and Baltic regulators join to combat money laundering
Regulators in eight Nordic and Baltic countries are developing a joint effort to exchange information with regard to fighting money laundering.
FinCEN to financial institutions: Beware of Venezuelan money laundering
FinCEN recently alerted financial institutions of continued widespread public corruption in Venezuela and the methods Venezuelan senior political figures and their associates may use to move and hide proceeds of their corruption.
Artificial intelligence joins the AML crusade
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way that companies and regulators alike tackle money-laundering and terrorist financing risk in remarkable and significant ways.
Standard Chartered Bank to pay $1.1B for sanctions violations
Standard Chartered Bank, a U.K.-based financial institution, will pay a total of $1.1 billion in a global settlement for sanctions violations.
Troika Laundromat reveals the gaps in AML compliance
A recent report from several investigative journalists details the AML scandal behind Troika Dialog, once Russia’s largest private investment bank, and is just one small look into the much bigger problem of corruption across the globe.
What Swedbank is saying about its multiple investigations
It has been a tumultuous few weeks for Swedbank as it fends off several investigations, including for money laundering and insider trading, resulting in the dismissal of its chief executive officer.
Swedbank faces scrutiny over money laundering allegations
Legal pressure against Stockholm-based Swedbank, one of several banks at the center of a massive money laundering scandal, continues to escalate.
New Fenergo solution to streamline AML screening
Client lifecycle management solutions provider Fenergo launched Fenergo Hierarchy Manager. The hierarchical modeling and visualization tool is designed to streamline anti-money laundering (AML) screening.