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FinCEN Issues Rulings Clarifying Account Rules, Money Transmitter Definitions
printMoney services businesses do not need to keep separate bank accounts for their different business lines to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, according to a U.S. Treasury Department ruling. The ruling, one of two separate opinion letters issued by the department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Tuesday, said that companies that operate as both a check casher and a money transmitter may commingle money from each business line without violating anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. The December 11 response made public Tuesday was in response to a May 7 letter from a money services business that kept two lines...
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An individually-owned and operated money services business in Michigan will pay $12,000 and cease operations for failing to properly screen thousands of wire transfers to Yemen, U.S. regulators said Friday.
Arizona has granted the nation's largest money transmitter an additional three months to improve its anti-money laundering compliance program and avoid criminal prosecution.
Lobbying by the world's largest stored value payment facilitator has indefinitely delayed, and perhaps permanently blocked, a plan to give customs officials the ability to read prepaid cards, say sources.
One of the country's top lobbying groups for money services businesses will ask lawmakers in February to streamline how the companies obtain licenses to operate in the United States.
The terms of a $100 million settlement disclosed Friday by MoneyGram for anti-money laundering lapses will cost the Dallas-based money remitter nearly $200 million once completed, regulatory documents show.
A 2008 investigation of Colombian cash couriers by customs officials and the U.S. Justice Department that made headlines for its ties to European cocaine sales had a lesser known result: Bank Secrecy Act regulations.
American officials will begin field-testing prepaid card readers at U.S. border stops next month as part of the lead-up to the Treasury Department regulations governing their cross-border transport, say officials.
Disputes and confusion over which companies will be responsible for anti-money laundering rules on stored value products has delayed federal registration and oversight of the sector, say industry representatives.
An agreement by one the nation's largest money transmitters to better share transactional data with investigators has resulted in greater scrutiny, both for the business and its chief competitor.
Dozens of small banks and credit unions have begun courting money services businesses over the past year, offering financial services to the high-risk clients in exchange for compliance-related fees.
Money services businesses have been slow to respond to an April request by the U.S. Treasury Department to provide more data on their individual agents, say compliance professionals.
The U.S. Treasury Department is in the final stages of levying a $12,000 civil money penalty against a New Jersey-based money remitter for failing to register as a money services business.
Several banks are asking the U.S. Treasury Department's financial crimes bureau for the unthinkable: more anti-money laundering compliance responsibilities.
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The Internal Revenue Service's anti-money laundering division is in the process of revamping how it examines tens of thousands of money services businesses, according to a former U.S. Treasury Department official.
Money services businesses and sellers of stored value cards will know this summer whether final rules by the U.S. Treasury Department will increase their anti-money laundering compliance duties and costs.
A report by an intergovernmental watchdog highlighting the anti-money laundering weaknesses of more than two dozen countries is prompting non-bank financial institutions to drop customers and avoid risky markets.
Third-party financial companies acting as clearinghouses to settle loan payments for foreign entrepreneurs or move government retirement benefits into direct deposit accounts are not subject to the Bank Secrecy Act, the U.S. Treasury Department said Friday.
Companies that only transfer funds to buy or sell currencies and commodities are not money transmitters subjected to the Bank Secrecy Act, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
Executing dealers that conduct transactions for prime brokerage clients in over-the-counter foreign exchange and derivatives markets are not required to apply federal due diligence rules for correspondent accounts to those relationships, FinCEN said in Guidance issued Wednesday.