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Canada’s Chief AML Regulator Shifts Efforts from Education to Enforcement
By Brian Monroe
printSince gaining penalty powers nearly three years ago, Canada's financial intelligence unit is shifting its focus from training financial institutions about compliance duties to penalizing those that haven't complied quickly enough. The number of annual anti-money laundering (AML) fines by the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) jumped 150 percent in 2010, up from four in 2009, when the agency first levied AML fines. To date, the fines have been restricted to money services businesses, real estate companies and a single credit union, with the largest FINTRAC fine totaling 37,090 Canadian dollars, or roughly $38,100. FINTRAC has also fined several...
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