A decision by the U.S. Treasury to reshape the nation's financial intelligence unit has spurred serious concerns about the direction of the agency.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit is hiring three top-ranking officials as part of a restructuring announced in June.
U.S. law enforcement officials and regulators have queried the nation's financial intelligence unit about securities settlements that use the world's top financial messaging platform, according to the agency's director.
Mandatory budget cuts scheduled to take effect in eight days would hinder the U.S. Treasury Department's efforts to crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing, say top federal officials.
A $120 million upgrade to the U.S. Treasury Department's database of Bank Secrecy Act reports is roughly 50 percent complete, after the bureau overseeing the project finished work on its new search engine.
Planned budget cuts that would limit cooperation between regional investigators and the U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit would be nixed under the latest congressional appropriations bill.
Venezuela announces plans to create a public bond market, 14 individuals charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization, in this week's roundup.
A proposal by the nation's largest bank lobbyist to overhaul the role of the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is getting a cool reception from government officials.
The country's largest banking association proposed a sweeping overhaul of U.S. anti-money laundering enforcement that would create a governmental entity responsible for overseeing Bank Secrecy Act compliance.
The U.S. Treasury Department may be denying state and federal law enforcement authorities a critical source of information for money laundering and terrorist financing investigations by opting not to forward to money services businesses information requests authorized under the Patriot Act.
Some 17 federal law enforcement agencies issued 826 requests to financial institutions, garnering nearly 49,000 positive matches and 41 convictions, a rate of about 5 percent, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
If a bank releases too much or too little information or takes too long to respond to a request from law enforcement officials, an investigation might be bogged down or even compromised.
The proposed $91.3 million budget, a fraction of the total Treasury Department budget released Monday, includes $82.2 million for BSA administration and analysis and $9.2 million for regulatory support programs, including coordinating with the Internal Revenue Services to ensure BSA compliance.
The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has named former Citigroup executive Peter Goodyear as the head of its Bank Secrecy Act data analysis unit.
The write off-for equipment, software and labor related to BSA Direct-accounted for more than half of a 24 percent drop in FinCEN's total assets in the year ended September 30, 2007, according to a government audit.
Because data protection laws in Europe and elsewhere make it difficult for a multinational financial institution to share data among all of its branches, the laws "will be the biggest impediment to protection from terrorism," the officials said.
Individuals can use the new tool to search more than 220 file types, including forms and regulations, on FinCEN's Web sites.
The agency is seeking feedback from financial institutions on the usefulness of SAR Activity Review-Trends, Tips & Issues and SAR Activity Review- By the Numbers, both published twice a year.
Limits such as a rule prohibiting financial institutions from sharing SAR information with nonbank affiliates hinder banks due diligence efforts, Bank of America Compliance Chief William Fox said at a compliance conference in Atlanta.
Many bank employees can't differentiate between SAR-related and other information requests they receive from law enforcement agencies, regulators and other financial institutions. As a result, some hinder financial investigations by ignoring the requests.