News
Banks Should Ask Detailed Sanctions Questions of Small MSB Clients, Say Consultants
By Brian Monroe
printWhen Robert Frimet arrived last summer at a small check cashing business in California to audit its compliance with financial crime and sanctions rules, one problem immediately stood out: the business had never heard of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "This happens all the time" with smaller money services business (MSBs), including check cashers, currency exchangers and businesses deemed MSBs because they sell money orders, said Frimet, president of Las Vegas-based RMF Consulting Group and the owner of six check cashing stores in Las Vegas and Miami. But for banks, the problems at mom-and-pop operations can...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
Terrorist attacks in Europe over the past year have done more than spur talk of new rules from the EU. They've also prompted major financial institutions to adjust their compliance controls in an effort to root out terrorism's financial backers. Such has been the case for Western Union Europe.
Recent regulatory guidance on banks use of consultants for anti-money laundering remediation work places a renewed focus on the personal connections that can affect the independence of consultants, according to compliance professionals.
After a busy year for federal sanctions officials, large banks with international footprints are increasingly instituting deeper, standalone audits of their related policies and procedures, say compliance officers and consultants.
When training agents working through money services businesses, compliance officials should take a creative, multimedia approach, said Anthony Rodriguez, global compliance officer at the Los Angeles-based Associated Foreign Exchange, Inc (AFEX).
A new U.S. Treasury Department plan to shift all regulatory reporting to electronic media will push some small money remitters along the U.S.-Mexico border to join the computer age, perhaps reluctantly.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit will levy more enforcement actions against money services businesses that fail to register with the federal government, an official said Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklists four Venezuelan government officials, authorities in Nepal finalizing a five-year national anti-money laundering strategy, and more, in this week's roundup.
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.
A Portland, OR-based charity used small money services businesses, false invoices and Swiss bank accounts to funnel $1.8 million to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to federal prosecutors.
Money services businesses are jumping through a new hoop to prove they have adequate anti-money laundering programs: in response to demands from banks, they are turning over copies of the independent reviews of their programs meant for regulators.