Several of the world's largest financial institutions have moved quickly to limit risks posed by their corporate clients in the six months since U.S. officials finalized a long-anticipated customer due diligence rule, while smaller lenders have treaded a rougher path towards implementation.
Draft U.S. Treasury Department rules on customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions would not prevent criminals from exploiting shell companies, according to Elise Bean, former staff director and chief counsel of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
A global anti-money laundering group Monday outlined how countries should identify corporate owners in an effort to stop criminals from hiding behind shell companies and other legal entities.
The proposed customer due diligence rule that was released July 30 was notable for what it didn't require, perhaps even more than for what it did.
U.S. officials will formally propose this month a long-planned rule that would require banks to identify the owners of their corporate clients, according to an Office of Management and Budget schedule.
British officials are set to propose legislation that would require private corporations and limited liability partnerships to publicly disclose their individual owners, a U.K. minister said Monday.
Penny stock fraud and soon-to-be introduced customer due diligence regulations should be foremost on the minds of compliance officers at small securities firms, believes Kenneth Cherrier, senior vice president and chief supervisory officer at Overland, KS-based Waddell & Reed, Inc.
A "quantum leap" in efforts to improve global financial transparency, including the passage of a U.S. anti-tax evasion law, has mitigated the compliance risks of offshore banking centers in recent years, says Martin Livingston, a partner at the Cayman Islands branch of law firm Maples and Calder.
U.S. Treasury Department officials are weighing whether to exempt trusts and offer more flexibility on verification requirements in an upcoming proposal that would impose data collection duties on corporate accounts held at banks.
Critics of a U.S. Treasury Department plan to strengthen beneficial ownership reporting by financial institutions aired their concerns to Obama administration officials at a rare public hearing Tuesday.
Okay, maybe not all. But a Wednesday webinar will shed light on the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's advanced notice of proposed rulemaking that details new customer due diligence requirements, particularly with regard to beneficial ownership.
Compliance with beneficial ownership standards will be one of the top priorities for Financial Action Task Force examiners during the group's next round of jurisdictional reviews, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it was considering imposing customer due diligence currently applied to private banking and correspondent accounts to all accountholders at depository institutions.
The Financial Action Task Force is weighing whether to ask jurisdictions to loosen their privacy laws and require companies to retain data on their owners, among other changes to the group's standards.