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OCC Will Revise AML Examinations, Expand List of Compliance Violations
By Brian Orsak and Colby Adams
printThe U.S. Treasury Department's regulator of large banks will revise how it examines for anti-money laundering compliance within months, the agency's chief told a congressional panel Tuesday. Thomas Curry, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that his agency will soon consider Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance a safety and soundness issue, scoring in such a way that it can impact the rate a particular financial institution pays for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) coverage. Unlike the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and National Credit Union Administration, the OCC doesn't...
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The federal regulator of national banks is set to crack down on financial institutions that fail to address anti-money laundering shortcomings outlined in non-public regulatory reports, a U.S. official said Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department can expedite civil monetary penalties against financial institutions that violate the Bank Secrecy Act and other rules tied to safety and soundness, under guidelines proposed Thursday.
Federal financial regulators have asked more than a dozen large and midsize banks to better ensure that validations of their anti-money laundering risk models are conducted independently, say officials.
A new U.S. Treasury Department strategy to improve bank oversight will entail more closely reviewing how consistently examiners evaluate risk modeling and transaction monitoring programs, say regulators.
In the wake of regulatory crackdowns and multiple criminal probes, financial institutions operating in Mexico are spending millions of dollars to upgrade their anti-money laundering programs, say bank staff.
Time constraints and poor communication have hindered federal bank examiners in identifying broad compliance lapses, and prompted them to give unnecessarily challenging mandates to the financial institutions they oversee.
The U.S. regulator of national banks has moved quickly to address congressional criticisms raised in July that it laxly enforces anti-money laundering rules, according to federal officials and compliance officers.
A newly implemented plan by HSBC Holdings Plc to export U.S. anti-money laundering standards to its global offices faces a difficult but common challenge for big banks: approximately half of its estimated 80 affiliates are located in bank secrecy jurisdictions.
Plans by the U.S. regulator of large banks to link anti-money laundering violations with federal insurance rates will likely translate into more resources and responsibilities for compliance staff, say Bank Secrecy Act officers.
HSBC Holdings Plc's compliance chief will step down from his current role, following allegations that the bank failed to better police the anti-money laundering programs of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
HSBC Holdings Plc will close all of its U.S. accounts in the Cayman Islands after a congressional investigation found that the Caribbean branch functioned solely as a dollar-clearing shell bank.
Poor anti-money laundering controls on affiliates and problematic oversight allowed a global bank to process tens of trillions of dollars with little to no compliance checks, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee.