Should suspicions that drug traffickers infiltrated the compliance department of a U.S.-owned bank in Mexico prove valid, it won't be the first example of such a scheme, or the last.
In internal reviews and an ongoing criminal and regulatory investigation, Citigroup employees and Mexican officials have privately voiced concerns that drug traffickers may have infiltrated Banamex's anti-money laundering department, say sources.
The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday accused the owners of a Georgian bank and more than a dozen others of secretly helping Iran and Syria skirt economic sanctions.
Foreign financial institutions and other non-U.S. companies newly tasked with disclosing when their affiliates deal with Iranian government officials are finding the requirements onerous, according to compliance officers and consultants.
New U.S. Treasury Department banking restrictions designed to hamstring Iran's nuclear program will curtail personal remittances and the ability to receive payments for licensed exports to the country, say analysts.
For the past year, a compliance officer in a midsize Texas bank has been pushing executives to link bonuses to how the officials comply with anti-money laundering rules.
The U.S. regulator of national banks said Thursday in a consent and cease-and-desist order that Citibank N.A. must grant its anti-money laundering compliance department a greater say in business decisions.