Italian prosecutors seize $10.5 billion from one of Europe's wealthiest families, a judge questions HSBC's agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, and more, in this week's news roundup.
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.
An effort by the country's financial intelligence unit to take ownership of Bank Secrecy Act data managed by the IRS appears to be on track, according to industry observers and the U.S. Treasury Department.
The U.S. Treasury Department should alter or abandon its plan to collect data on cross-border transactions made through banks and money remitters, in part because of potential data management issues, say banking groups.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit will unveil details in January of its Bank Secrecy Act database overhaul scheduled for completion in 2014.
The United Kingdom's chief financial regulator fined Royal Bank of Scotland nearly USD $9 million on Tuesday, the agency's largest penalty ever for anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance failures.
The U.S. Treasury Department penalizes a New York bank for transactions tied to Cuba, Italy arrests 300 in a mafia crackdown and the Asia Pacific Money Laundering Group warns of laundering through carbon emissions schemes, in this week's news roundup.
The Obama administration Thursday proposed funding increases for federal bank supervision and the U.S. Treasury Department agency that oversees the implementation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
Efforts by the U.S. Treasury Department to get small banks to file their Bank Secrecy Act documents electronically are likely to face stiff resistance despite law enforcement complaints, say consultants.
Banks are revamping their financial intelligence units to tackle not only money laundering but other crimes, including fraud, as part of an effort to rein in expenses, say compliance professionals.
The U.S. Treasury Department wrote off $3.2 million in 2008 from a failed Bank Secrecy Act data mining program, bringing the losses associated with the project to at least $15.4 million.
The proposed $91.3 million budget, a fraction of the total Treasury Department budget released Monday, includes $82.2 million for BSA administration and analysis and $9.2 million for regulatory support programs, including coordinating with the Internal Revenue Services to ensure BSA compliance.
The House Financial Services committee plans to hold a hearing in July to consider a bill that would authorize FinCENs proposed $85.8 million budget for fiscal 2008. The bill would also authorize FinCEN funding for fiscal 2009 through 2012.
A proposed U.S. Treasury Department database that would track cross-border funds transfers is too costly and may be harmful to the U.S. payments system, say three banking industry trade groups.