America's oldest private bank will pay $8 million to settle regulatory anti-money laundering violations, the largest such fine imposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
A $1 million penalty for anti-money laundering failures against an Omaha, NE independent clearing firm ratchets up the pressure on similar operations and their introducing broker clients, say compliance professionals.
The nation's largest private securities regulator penalized Oppenheimer & Co. more than $1.4 million for violations related to penny stock trades, a fine that could spur smaller firms to review for similar problems.
The number of fines levied by the U.S. nongovernmental regulator of securities and brokerage firms more than doubled in the first five months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
A U.S. Treasury Department effort to better ensure the confidentiality of suspicious activity reports contributed to a delay in regulatory penalties by the nation's non-governmental regulator of brokerage firms.
The chief self-regulatory organization examining broker-dealers for anti-money laundering compliance is again allowed to have direct access to suspicious activity reports, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Thursday.
Securities regulators are likely to increasingly penalize firms that fail to identify the beneficial owners of accounts controlled by so-called "master" accounts, according to Alma Angotti, the former senior counsel in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's enforcement department.
The largest nongovernmental regulator of U.S. securities firms has expelled a Westlake Village, CA-based company for failing to implement anti-money laundering controls, the organization said Monday.
The country's largest independent securities regulator fined Scottrade $600,000 Monday for alleged deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program, including the company's over reliance on a manual transaction auditing system.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a Michigan brokerage firm $225,000 for securities violations and poor anti-money laundering controls, the second such enforcement action against a broker this year.
E*Trade has been fined $1 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for inadequate anti-money laundering policies and procedures. The action follows on a $1 million penalty levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission six months ago against the on-line brokerage.
print