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The new year won't be any easier on compliance officials at banks and money services businesses, and could get much harder depending on how U.S. officials implement new and proposed regulations, according to industry leaders.
We never said compliance professionals had it easy, and 2010 doesn't look to be a year when things will be any better for the anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing industry.
Bank closings and enforcement actions for capital requirement and credit risk violations didn't preclude law enforcement and regulatory officials from pursuing banks for violating U.S. and international sanctions in 2009 or from leaning on financial institutions to catch tax cheats.
New Year's Eve may have come and gone and all of the post-celebration headaches faded, but financial institutions are going to need many more months to recover from 2008.
Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, including Seattle-based Washington Mutual, the largest bank to fail in U.S. history. With less resources and with regulators focused on credit markets and capital requirements, compliance officers faced a whole new set of regulatory challenges.
U.S. Representative Barney Frank said he will continue to push for easing the burden of Bank Secrecy Act compliance for financial institutions this year as the House Financial Services Committee turns its attention toward the widening U.S. mortgage and credit crises.
The FBI and IRS are referring fewer cases to the U.S. Justice Department for criminal prosecutions, partly because of a shift in focus toward terrorism and immigration violations, a study found.
Now that the confetti has settled and the kazoos have been packed away for next year's parties, anti-money laundering compliance officers consider what lies ahead in 2008.
