Italian prosecutors seize $10.5 billion from one of Europe's wealthiest families, a judge questions HSBC's agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, and more, in this week's news roundup.
Poor anti-money laundering controls on affiliates and problematic oversight allowed a global bank to process tens of trillions of dollars with little to no compliance checks, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
An effort by the country's financial intelligence unit to take ownership of Bank Secrecy Act data managed by the IRS appears to be on track, according to industry observers and the U.S. Treasury Department.
The U.S. Treasury Department should alter or abandon its plan to collect data on cross-border transactions made through banks and money remitters, in part because of potential data management issues, say banking groups.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit will unveil details in January of its Bank Secrecy Act database overhaul scheduled for completion in 2014.
Should U.S. compliance officers take extra steps to inform their foreign counterparts of suspicious transactions? Many AML experts believe they should.
The United Kingdom's chief financial regulator fined Royal Bank of Scotland nearly USD $9 million on Tuesday, the agency's largest penalty ever for anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance failures.
The U.S. Treasury Department penalizes a New York bank for transactions tied to Cuba, Italy arrests 300 in a mafia crackdown and the Asia Pacific Money Laundering Group warns of laundering through carbon emissions schemes, in this week's news roundup.
Arizona's Supreme Court struck down a ruling Wednesday that would have allowed the attorney general to order freezes on wire transfers from 28 other states to locations in northern Mexico.
Efforts by the U.S. Treasury Department to get small banks to file their Bank Secrecy Act documents electronically are likely to face stiff resistance despite law enforcement complaints, say consultants.
A federal court ruling dismissing a $300 million U.S. lawsuit against two European banks may limit how the United States enforces its anti-money laundering laws abroad, say former investigators.
Banks are revamping their financial intelligence units to tackle not only money laundering but other crimes, including fraud, as part of an effort to rein in expenses, say compliance professionals.
The U.S. Treasury Department wrote off $3.2 million in 2008 from a failed Bank Secrecy Act data mining program, bringing the losses associated with the project to at least $15.4 million.
The proposed $91.3 million budget, a fraction of the total Treasury Department budget released Monday, includes $82.2 million for BSA administration and analysis and $9.2 million for regulatory support programs, including coordinating with the Internal Revenue Services to ensure BSA compliance.
Under the so-called travel rule, receiving banks are not obligated to go back and obtain data missing from wire transfer documentation, but when a bank receives inadequate identification information, its customer due diligence efforts can be severely compromised.
The House Financial Services committee plans to hold a hearing in July to consider a bill that would authorize FinCENs proposed $85.8 million budget for fiscal 2008. The bill would also authorize FinCEN funding for fiscal 2009 through 2012.
U.S. federal agents and informants posing as drug dealers helped arrest 27 money remitters in a New York undercover operation.
President Bush's proposed budget increase for the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is meant in part to help fund its Bank Secrecy Act E-Filing and Cross-Border Wire Transfer initiatives.