News
FATF Scrutinizing Iran’s Efforts to Stop Laundering, Terrorist Financing
By Brian Orsak
printAn international anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing watchdog is considering whether to take action against Iran for weaknesses identified in the country's AML laws. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, a 34-member organization of primarily affluent countries, issued a warning in October identifying Iran's AML laws as a "significant vulnerability" in the global financial system. On Wednesday, the group launched a meeting to consider whether Iran has taken proper action to address those weaknesses. If Iran's response is deemed insufficient, FATF could take further action as soon as Thursday or Friday, when its annual meeting in Paris wraps up, said...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Subscribe
Learn More
Related News
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Thursday unanimously approved a measure that would penalize foreign banks that offer financial services to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Shiite militant group.
U.S. officials Tuesday charged a blacklisted Chinese national with using shell companies to maintain accounts at American banks and offered five million dollars for information on his whereabouts.
The financial clearing subsidiary of Deutsche Börse AG will pay the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions enforcer $152 million for holding money in New York-based accounts on behalf of Iran's central bank.
As early as Monday, banks will be able to do what has become seemingly unthinkable in the sanctions compliance field during recent years: ramp up their ties to Iran.
The chairman of a Senate committee vowed Thursday to block additional sanctions against Iran in an effort to protect last month's multilateral accord to suspend portions of the country's nuclear program.
Western financial institutions won't radically amend their sanctions controls in response to an agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for a relaxation of banking restrictions, say former officials.
Despite tightened controls on interbank messaging, some bankers looking to hide the role of their blacklisted clients in international wires need only type a single key on their keyboard, according to experts.
Federal officials will weigh whether financial institutions can bank medical marijuana shops, New York's financial regulators asks two financial consultancies for data and more, in this week's news roundup.
Germany's BaFin is reportedly investigating potential AML violations by Deutsche Bank, a U.K. court could order the British government to pay millions to compensate a blacklisted Iranian bank, and more, in this midweek roundup.
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday approved legislation that would limit White House-granted waivers to nations that purchase oil from Iran under a 2011 sanctions law.
Growing economic and political ties between Argentina and Iran are prompting some bank compliance officers to look more closely at their clients in the South American nation, say industry professionals.
A U.S. official's threat last month of economic sanctions against four Chinese banks is likely to be toothless given economic and enforcement hurdles, say sanctions analysts.
Additional banking and trade restrictions that target the finance and supply of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs were passed by the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.
An influential financial crime watchdog group released Thursday a much-anticipated list of nearly 30 countries with anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing deficiencies.
An anti-money laundering watchdog association will issue guidelines on how countries can best identify and freeze the assets of terror financiers, the organization said Monday.
The U.S. Senate banking committee approved a bill that would ratchet up economic pressure on Iran and increase the budgets of two government agencies that enforce sanctions and counter-terrorist financing regulations.
The bank, which is based in London, expects to reach a "resolution" with the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and New York District Attorneys office, Lloyd's said in a statement Friday.
The FATF, in a four-year plan the group adopted April 12, said it will meet with financial institutions and other private businesses at trade group events and consultative forums as it develops policies to battle laundering and terrorist financing threats worldwide.
The U.N. Security Council voted a third round of sanctions against Iran over its alleged ambitions to develop nuclear weapons. Fourteen of the 15 members of the Security Council supported a measure calling for tighter monitoring of Iranian financial institutions, travel bans, and cargo inspections.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said Thursday that the global financial community should regard transactions involving Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Northern Cyprus and São Tomé and Príncipe as high risks for money laundering.