President Obama is expected to sign into law a measure that would allow the U.S. Treasury Department to rely on state examinations of nonbank financial institutions, including money services businesses.
Money services businesses in Quebec are struggling to deal with the impact of unprecedented provincial registration and anti-money laundering requirements that took effect this year, say analysts.
As many as a half dozen banks have severed relationships with foreign money services businesses for failing to register with the U.S. Treasury Department under rules that took effect earlier this year, say compliance professionals.
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.
A U.S. Treasury Department rule finalized in 2011 has prompted foreign money services businesses to incorporate affiliates in the United States in an effort to retain access to American banks.
Hundreds of money services businesses and other small financial institutions will miss the U.S. Treasury Department's June 30 deadline to file all of their anti-money laundering reports electronically, say sources.
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.