News

FinCEN’s Registration Requirement Gives Banks One More Reason to Say No to Foreign MSBs

By Brian Monroe

As many as a half dozen banks have severed relationships with foreign money services businesses for failing to register with the U.S. Treasury Department under rules that took effect earlier this year, say compliance professionals. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued the final rules in July 2011, with a compliance date of January, to amend the definition of money services businesses (MSBs) in order to subject foreign operations to anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. The change was made to address the fact that foreign MSBs could do business in the United States, including through online portals, even though they had...

TO READ THE FULL STORY