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From the Editor: Give Due Credit to Banks Fighting Human Trafficking
By Kieran Beer
printLast month's confirmation hearing for Adam Szubin, who is seeking to become U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crime, lacked the fireworks that might have been expected given the Republican majority's animosity toward the Obama administration's agreement with Iran. The thoughtful and businesslike way in which the Senate Banking Committee hearing was conducted was a tribute to the unfailingly polite, earnest and very capable Szubin, who has been acting undersecretary since January, and who served prior to that for more than eight years as director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Critics of the deal that Szubin was...
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A pair of U.S. senators introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at strengthening and expanding the role of financial institutions in fighting human trafficking.
The "often unremarkable" money trail left by human traffickers is hindering banks from detecting their illicit funds, according to financial professionals cited by a U.K. policy center.
Organized crime groups and blacklisted terrorist organizations have taken advantage of the lack of attention and oversight in recent years to infiltrate the gold sector, according to an expert at Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
A U.S. lawmaker is drafting legislation to prod governmental officials and financial institutions to better cooperate in efforts to stop human trafficking and smuggling.
State and federal measures designed to combat international human trafficking and child labor will obligate financial institutions to apply tougher due diligence standards to corporate accounts, a federal judge said Monday.
Suspicious transaction reports are among the biggest leads for investigators into the money laundering operations of human trafficking and smuggling operations, an intergovernmental group said Wednesday.
Some of the country's largest banks are increasingly monitoring account activity for signs of possible human trafficking, according to individuals familiar with the initiatives.
Human trafficking profits are estimated to be between 10 and 40 billion dollars annually, but few people are taking the time to root out the related money laundering transactions, Dr. Louise Shelley told reporter Larissa Bernardes.
The case points to the difficulties that large money service businesses face in detecting compliance violations at associated stores, compliance consultants say.