Although Canadian financial institutions have collectively invested millions of dollars to shield themselves from bad actors, little evidence exists that their efforts are paying off, according to Milos Barutciski, a board member of Transparency International Canada.
The election last week of a new Canadian prime minister could translate into a tougher tack on money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes, according to compliance professionals.
Canada's highest court will determine whether attorneys must retain client data for regulatory purposes and whether the nation's financial intelligence unit can retain and share such records following onsite searches.
Canada's financial watchdogs outlined their expectations and priorities Monday, clarifying a policy that previously gave banks a warning one month in advance of pending regulatory examinations.
Canada's primary regulator of depository institutions is considering launching a thematic review of the anti-money laundering controls of offshore banking affiliates in bank secrecy jurisdictions, an official said Tuesday.
Canada's primary financial regulator will focus its anti-money laundering efforts on ensuring that institutions implement plans to monitor high-risk clients and address other known compliance gaps, an official said Thursday.
Canada's top financial intelligence agency intends to work more closely with its counterparts abroad and investigators at home to identify money launderers, according to Gérald Cossette, the group's new director.
Canadian compliance officers at banks and non-bank institutions are bracing themselves for broad changes to their anti-money laundering obligations ahead of the country's next evaluation by an international watchdog group.
The findings of a pending report by Canadian lawmakers will likely spur reforms of the nation's financial intelligence unit and new anti-money laundering rules for non-financial institutions, say sources.
Financial institutions in Canada will be required to strengthen their due diligence controls and report all cross-border transactions, under draft rules proposed by the country's Department of Finance Wednesday.
Proposed amendments to Canada's primary anti-money laundering law would require banks and other companies to apply new prescriptive compliance controls in place of the risk-based policies currently used, say industry experts.
A plan by one of British Columbia's two casino regulators to improve anti-money laundering controls will do little to correct a conflict-of-interest in how the industry is overseen, say critics.
Since gaining penalty powers nearly three years ago, Canada's financial intelligence unit is shifting its focus from training financial institutions about compliance duties to penalizing those that haven't complied quickly enough.
Canada took its first step last month into fining financial institutions for anti-money laundering troubles, penalizing two money services business and prompting at least one of the companies to close.