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Finra Enforcement Actions Rose Sharply in Early 2012
By Colby Adams
printThe 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. While the fine amounts varied significantly, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) levied 20 anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement actions between January and June. That number compares to only nine such actions levied during the same months in the previous year, when the self-regulatory organization (SRO) issued a total of 41 AML actions. The spike, which builds on a jump beginning in the second half of 2011, roughly coincides...
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Sometimes a decline in bank enforcement actions isn't a good thing, even for bankers. Such is the takeaway of a review of enforcement action data spanning back five years, during which the number of formal Bank Secrecy Act penalties fell nearly 20 percent while fines and regulatory demands grew.
In a year when the number of enforcement actions issued by federal financial regulators fell by nearly half, Bank Secrecy Act-related penalties earned an unusual distinction. They declined by less than 14 percent.
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.
The nation's largest nongovernmental regulator of securities is signaling it wants executing brokers to know their customers better, even when the clients come from larger firms.
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.
Plans by the U.S. securities market regulator to more strictly enforce regulations will result in a jump in anti-money laundering penalties both by the agency and its private sector partner.
Fines and monetary settlements paid in 2012 by banks for anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing violations increased 131-fold from the previous year, ACAMS moneylaundering.com data shows.
The U.S. government's financial intelligence unit will resume an abandoned practice of fining banks for Bank Secrecy Act violations apart from the enforcement actions it works on with federal regulators, say sources.
Though none can predict the future, one thing in the AML world seems certain: the jobs of compliance officers won't get any easier in 2013.
Over 11,000 investment advisers could be subject to compliance examinations by one or more self-regulatory organizations, under a measure considered by lawmakers Wednesday.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Agency (Finra), which is responsible for ensuring that securities firms have effective anti-money laundering programs in place, had a tough time doing that in 2011 after being denied access to suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by the firms it oversees.
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.
Some firms under the purview of the nation's largest independent securities regulator are failing to meet anti-money laundering compliance standards despite spending enough money to do so, according to an agency regulator.