Bank of America, N.A. will pay a $16.5 million penalty for failing to freeze assets and reject transactions linked to sanctioned global drug traffickers, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday.
A Mexican currency exchange house that registered with the U.S. Treasury Department manipulated currency declaration reports in efforts to launder tens of millions of dollars of drug profits, according to court documents.
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 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.
Wells Fargo & Co., the parent company of Wachovia Bank, will pay $160 million to settle anti-money laundering compliance problems tied to accounts with Mexican currency exchange companies, the company said Wednesday.
Bank of America has reportedly resumed offering banking services to money services businesses (MSBs), reversing a trend at the bank, and the industry as a whole, to drop money transmitters because regulators have labeled them as higher risk.
print