The International Monetary Fund called on watchdog groups and governments to clarify their compliance expectations and improve cross-border data-sharing in an effort to reverse a global decline in correspondent banking relationships. In a report issued Thursday, the intergovernmental organization said that private and public sector respondents to a recent survey partially attributed the reduction to the costs of maintaining bank-to-bank services while complying with economic and trade sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML) rules and tax transparency initiatives. The decline has particularly impacted financial institutions in emerging markets and developing nations in Africa, the Caribbean, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Pacific,...
Global financial institutions, regulatory agencies and industry groups should develop and adopt standardized know-your-customer requirements to reduce due diligence costs tied to correspondent transactions, central bankers said Wednesday.
Financial institutions have yet to develop a practical method to evaluate and limit the compliance vulnerabilities that political figures and high-risk businesses pose, according to a U.K. study published Tuesday.
An intergovernmental watchdog group is set to issue new guidance on cross-border transfers, virtual currencies and other categories of customers and transactions that many banks associate with high regulatory and legal risks.
In a rare gesture last week, a federal regulator signaled to banks that they might relax when it comes to implementing certain anti-money laundering policies. There was only one problem: no one is likely to listen.
A number of large U.S. and international banks are dropping customer accounts and services tied to high-risk geographical regions and lines of business in response to regulatory pressure, including enforcement actions.