News
Canada’s OSFI Weighing Review of Offshore Banks in Tax Havens
By Brian Monroe
printCanada's primary regulator of depository institutions is considering launching a thematic review of the anti-money laundering controls of offshore banking affiliates in bank secrecy jurisdictions, an official said Tuesday. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) could move forward with the initiative in April, said Christine Ring, the director of the agency's anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorist financing assessment program, during remarks at the 12th Annual ACAMS AML & Financial Crime Conference in Las Vegas. The potential review would focus on wealth management practices and entail onsite visits and information requests by OSFI officials, said Ring, adding that...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
Although Canadian financial institutions have collectively invested millions of dollars to shield themselves from bad actors, little evidence exists that their efforts are paying off, according to Milos Barutciski, a board member of Transparency International Canada.
Canada's highest court will determine whether attorneys must retain client data for regulatory purposes and whether the nation's financial intelligence unit can retain and share such records following onsite searches.
Canada's primary financial regulator is looking into whether Bank of Montreal violated anti-money laundering rules following the issuance of two enforcement actions Friday by federal U.S. agencies, a spokesperson confirmed.
Canada's primary financial regulator will focus its anti-money laundering efforts on ensuring that institutions implement plans to monitor high-risk clients and address other known compliance gaps, an official said Thursday.
Canada's top financial intelligence agency intends to work more closely with its counterparts abroad and investigators at home to identify money launderers, according to Gérald Cossette, the group's new director.
Canadian compliance officers at banks and non-bank institutions are bracing themselves for broad changes to their anti-money laundering obligations ahead of the country's next evaluation by an international watchdog group.
The findings of a pending report by Canadian lawmakers will likely spur reforms of the nation's financial intelligence unit and new anti-money laundering rules for non-financial institutions, say sources.
Financial institutions in Canada will be required to strengthen their due diligence controls and report all cross-border transactions, under draft rules proposed by the country's Department of Finance Wednesday.
Proposed amendments to Canada's primary anti-money laundering law would require banks and other companies to apply new prescriptive compliance controls in place of the risk-based policies currently used, say industry experts.
Disclosures by Canada's financial regulator of suspected money laundering and other crimes have more than tripled in recent years even as the number of suspicious transaction reports filed annually by banks has fallen.