News
After PSI Hearing, OCC Moved Quickly to Toughen Exams
By Brian Monroe
printThe U.S. regulator of national banks has moved quickly to address congressional criticisms raised in July that it laxly enforces anti-money laundering rules, according to federal officials and compliance officers. Since its representatives appeared in July before the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has bolstered its internal data-sharing policies and ordered its examiners to give banks less leeway on compliance violations, the individuals said. In response to a "huge amount of pressure," Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, who took the agency's reins in April, has accomplished...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Subscribe
Learn More
Related News
The federal regulator of national banks is set to crack down on financial institutions that fail to address anti-money laundering shortcomings outlined in non-public regulatory reports, a U.S. official said Monday.
Lawmakers slated to take control of the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will likely bring more than individual agendas to the powerful investigative body. For banks, they may bring a reprieve.
The U.S. Treasury Department can expedite civil monetary penalties against financial institutions that violate the Bank Secrecy Act and other rules tied to safety and soundness, under guidelines proposed Thursday.
A new U.S. Treasury Department strategy to improve bank oversight will entail more closely reviewing how consistently examiners evaluate risk modeling and transaction monitoring programs, say regulators.
The U.S. regulator of national banks is reviewing how it will penalize so-called "pillar violations" of anti-money laundering laws after the agency revamped its enforcement policies ahead of congressional criticism.
In the wake of regulatory crackdowns and multiple criminal probes, financial institutions operating in Mexico are spending millions of dollars to upgrade their anti-money laundering programs, say bank staff.
Time constraints and poor communication have hindered federal bank examiners in identifying broad compliance lapses, and prompted them to give unnecessarily challenging mandates to the financial institutions they oversee.
A newly implemented plan by HSBC Holdings Plc to export U.S. anti-money laundering standards to its global offices faces a difficult but common challenge for big banks: approximately half of its estimated 80 affiliates are located in bank secrecy jurisdictions.
Most news accounts of Tuesday's U.S. Senate inquiry into HSBC Holding Plc's compliance failings led with the bank's anti-money laundering compliance chief's announced resignation before lawmakers. But what he meant, it turns out, is that he is only taking another job inside the bank.
HSBC Holdings Plc will close all of its U.S. accounts in the Cayman Islands after a congressional investigation found that the Caribbean branch functioned solely as a dollar-clearing shell bank.
The U.S. Treasury Department's regulator of large banks will revise how it examines for anti-money laundering compliance within months, the agency's chief told a congressional panel Tuesday.
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.
U.S. senators will question representatives from HSBC Holdings Plc and its financial regulator next Tuesday over the findings of an unreleased report outlining concerns about the bank's anti-money laundering compliance program.