Lobbying by the world's largest stored value payment facilitator has indefinitely delayed, and perhaps permanently blocked, a plan to give customs officials the ability to read prepaid cards, say sources.
American officials will begin field-testing prepaid card readers at U.S. border stops next month as part of the lead-up to the Treasury Department regulations governing their cross-border transport, say officials.
Disputes and confusion over which companies will be responsible for anti-money laundering rules on stored value products has delayed federal registration and oversight of the sector, say industry representatives.
Senators chastised the U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday for delays in regulating prepaid access products that can be used to smuggle drug proceeds from the United States into Mexico.
Several banks are asking the U.S. Treasury Department's financial crimes bureau for the unthinkable: more anti-money laundering compliance responsibilities.
Proposed regulations by the U.S. Treasury Department on the prepaid card industry are raising questions and concerns among anti-money laundering compliance consultants on how the rules can be implemented and enforced.
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.
Concerns about drug cartel money smuggling could shape expected U.S. Treasury Department compliance rules on how companies should treat stored value cards, according to investigators.
The U.S. Treasury Department remains on schedule to issue regulations early next year that will bring stored-value cards under the purview of the Bank Secrecy Act, according to a government official.
Nevada Senate Judiciary members Thursday approved a measure that would allow law enforcement officers to freeze, and in some cases seize, prepaid credit and stored-value cards without a warrant.
Money services businesses do not need to keep separate bank accounts for their different business lines to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, according to a U.S. Treasury Department ruling.
The European Union proposed rules Tuesday on how electronic money might be issued, a step meant to further expand the market for prepaid and stored value payment products.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit did not meet a number of its 2007 goals, including finalizing anti-money laundering rules for investment and commodity trading advisors, a government report released Wednesday revealed.
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, who last year proposed a bill that would expand the power of prosecutors to include money laundering charges in a criminal case, will amend the proposal to account for "new and emerging trends," in stored value and prepaid cards and other issues.
Financial institutions introducing the popular programs should review the hiring practices and other due diligence procedures of the employers seeking to participate in the programs, compliance professionals say.
Because AML regulation for cards is "unclear," they "provide an ideal laundering instrument to anonymously move monies associated with all types of illicit activity, without fear of documentation, identification, law enforcement suspicion, or seizure," according to a federal government report.