Securities regulators are likely to increasingly penalize firms that fail to identify the beneficial owners of accounts controlled by so-called "master" accounts, according to Alma Angotti, the former senior counsel in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's enforcement department.
Some firms under the purview of the nation's largest independent securities regulator are failing to meet anti-money laundering compliance standards despite spending enough money to do so, according to an agency regulator.
The country's largest independent securities regulator fined Scottrade $600,000 Monday for alleged deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program, including the company's over reliance on a manual transaction auditing system.
The largest non-governmental regulator of U.S. securities firms said Thursday that it had fined three companies over $1.25 million for failing to implement "reasonable" anti-money laundering compliance programs.
E*Trade has been fined $1 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for inadequate anti-money laundering policies and procedures. The action follows on a $1 million penalty levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission six months ago against the on-line brokerage.