News
In 2015, a Jump in AML Enforcement Actions for Banks and Nonbanks Alike
By Colby Adams and Irene Madongo
printRelated News
U.S. federal regulators issued significantly fewer enforcement actions in response to Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering program breaches in 2016 than the previous year, and fined only a quarter of the institutions they cited for such infractions.
An expected New York State regulatory proposal is likely to raise questions on how much senior bank executives can and should know about their anti-money laundering programs, according to compliance experts.
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.
The number of enforcement actions issued annually by the top regulator of large U.S. banks declined in 2013, according to a semiannual report on risk published Wednesday by the agency.
An expected jump in regulatory penalties against individual bankers is motivating more compliance officers to look into obtaining personal liability insurance, with perhaps disappointing results.
Relative to the year before, the anti-money laundering (AML) compliance industry drew few headlines over the past 12 months, and yet no one would tell you their job got any easier.
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 total number of anti-money laundering enforcement fines handed down by federal regulators rose by 67 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year.
