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.
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.
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.
A U.S. Treasury Department plan to increase reporting on cross-border transactions would allow federal regulators and investigators to more easily detect unregistered money remitters - if they can sift through the data.
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.
Bank of America has cut its ties to North Korea after the nation topped an intergovernmental blacklist of countries with poor anti-money laundering regimes, according to a bank compliance official.
The number of suspicious activity reports filed by U.S. money services businesses declined by eight percent in 2008, the first drop in such reporting by any financial sector since 1997.
Hardships in the financial industry are powering a second wave of banks dropping their money services business clients, which can require costly anti-money laundering vetting, say consultants.
The manual, issued by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, will include language from a FinCEN ruling on due diligence for certain correspondent accounts for foreign banks, according to people familiar with the matter.
A measure that standardizes rules for electronic payment services across the European Union will boost competition among money services businesses, banks and other financial institutions, MSB professionals say.
Several money services businesses have closed since regulators designated them as high-risk for money laundering.
Bank of America acknowledged Wednesday that its lax policies allowed South American money transmitters to funnel $3 billion through a Manhattan branch and agreed to pay $7.5 million in a settlement with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.