An individually-owned and operated money services business in Michigan will pay $12,000 and cease operations for failing to properly screen thousands of wire transfers to Yemen, U.S. regulators said Friday.
Looking for entrée into a financial market that has been reluctant to bank them, multiple Argentine money services businesses have applied for American accounts under false pretenses, say industry advisors.
Arizona has granted the nation's largest money transmitter an additional three months to improve its anti-money laundering compliance program and avoid criminal prosecution.
A Mexican currency exchange house that registered with the U.S. Treasury Department manipulated currency declaration reports in efforts to launder tens of millions of dollars of drug profits, according to court documents.
One of the country's top lobbying groups for money services businesses will ask lawmakers in February to streamline how the companies obtain licenses to operate in the United States.
Money services businesses in Quebec are struggling to deal with the impact of unprecedented provincial registration and anti-money laundering requirements that took effect this year, say analysts.
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 terms of a $100 million settlement disclosed Friday by MoneyGram for anti-money laundering lapses will cost the Dallas-based money remitter nearly $200 million once completed, regulatory documents show.
A U.S. Treasury Department rule finalized in 2011 has prompted foreign money services businesses to incorporate affiliates in the United States in an effort to retain access to American banks.
An agreement by one the nation's largest money transmitters to better share transactional data with investigators has resulted in greater scrutiny, both for the business and its chief competitor.
Dozens of small banks and credit unions have begun courting money services businesses over the past year, offering financial services to the high-risk clients in exchange for compliance-related fees.
Money services businesses have been slow to respond to an April request by the U.S. Treasury Department to provide more data on their individual agents, say compliance professionals.
The U.S. Treasury Department Monday imposed new compliance duties on foreign money remitters and other businesses that serve U.S. clients as part of broader efforts to track global illicit finance.
The U.S. Treasury Department is in the final stages of levying a $12,000 civil money penalty against a New Jersey-based money remitter for failing to register as a money services business.
A U.S. Treasury Department plan to increase reporting on cross-border transactions would allow federal regulators and investigators to more easily detect unregistered money remitters - if they can sift through the data.
The Internal Revenue Service's anti-money laundering division is in the process of revamping how it examines tens of thousands of money services businesses, according to a former U.S. Treasury Department official.
Money services businesses and sellers of stored value cards will know this summer whether final rules by the U.S. Treasury Department will increase their anti-money laundering compliance duties and costs.
A report by an intergovernmental watchdog highlighting the anti-money laundering weaknesses of more than two dozen countries is prompting non-bank financial institutions to drop customers and avoid risky markets.
The Internal Revenue Service is ill-equipped to examine money services businesses for federal compliance, industry leaders and lawmakers told a congressional subcommittee Wednesday.
For money transmitters, proving to a bank that your company isn't too big of an anti-money laundering risk to take on can be difficult, even more so when you've encountered compliance problems.