News
printRelated News
New Zealand's Ministry of Justice called for industry input ahead of the government's submission next year of legislation that could impose anti-money laundering rules on non-bank businesses and amend suspicious activity reporting obligations.
With little knowledge of federal compliance reporting requirements, few of the gold buyers jumping into a growing market implement controls meant to stymie money launderers, say industry professionals.
An intergovernmental group has launched a program to help 16 sub-Saharan African countries tamp down money laundering and terrorist financing through the diamond and gold trade.
A jewelry industry advocacy group is helping anti-money laundering examiners at the IRS to better understand the vulnerabilities and business models of dealers in precious metals and stones.
The Financial Action Task Force reiterated its call Monday for anti-money laundering controls by life insurance companies in a report outlining how the industry can apply risk-based checks.
Brian Mannion, of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, spoke with reporter Larissa Bernardes about the possibility of insurance companies receiving enforcement actions, the compliance differences between banks and insurance products and the challenge of independent agent training.
Insurers filed 642 suspicious activity reports between May 2, 2006, and May 1, 2007, the first year they were required to do so, the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said in a report issued Tuesday.
To meet certain reporting requirements, banks serving as agents to insurance and mutual fund companies often must identify those firms' customers initiating the underlying transactions. That is no easy task, say compliance professionals.
The growing secondary market for life insurance policies remains a largely overlooked means for money launderers to place money in U.S. banks.
The Internal Revenue Service will not start implementing most jewelry business examinations for Bank Secrecy Act compliance until at least fiscal year 2008, an agency official said Monday.
Insurers were on pace to file 280 for the year ended this month, according to a FinCEN study issued last week. That compares with 5,723 SARs submitted by money services businesses in 2002, and 4,267 by securities and futures dealers in 2003, the first years those industries had to file the reports.
Bob Walsh, v.p. of anti-money laundering compliance for AXA Financial, says insurance companies uncertain about their Bank Secrecy Act responsibilities face a number of challenges related to the newness of the requirements and the fact the industry has old systems in place to help them comply.
Jewelry dealers left an AML seminar last week in New York with unanswered questions about their Bank Secrecy Act responsibilities. The IRS representative who led the session said she couldn't give certain answers in part because she doesn't yet know the particulars of the industry.
