News
In Shadow of a Past Failure, BSA Database Overhaul Takes Shape
By Brian Monroe
printAn effort by the country's financial intelligence unit to take ownership of Bank Secrecy Act data managed by the IRS appears to be on track, according to industry observers and the U.S. Treasury Department. The project, headed by the department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and dubbed the "BSA IT Modernization," will allow over 300 law enforcement agencies to more efficiently search the bureau's database of financial regulatory filings. The overhaul, which was launched in 2009, is expected to cost the bureau $100 million before an expected finalization in 2014, according to FinCEN officials and budget documents. The revamp will...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
Italian prosecutors seize $10.5 billion from one of Europe's wealthiest families, a judge questions HSBC's agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, and more, in this week's news roundup.
Upgrades to the U.S. Treasury Department's Bank Secrecy Act database will allow the nation's financial intelligence unit to better identify criminal activity indicated in regulatory reports, a governmental auditor said.
A $120 million upgrade to the U.S. Treasury Department's database of Bank Secrecy Act reports is roughly 50 percent complete, after the bureau overseeing the project finished work on its new search engine.
Poor anti-money laundering controls on affiliates and problematic oversight allowed a global bank to process tens of trillions of dollars with little to no compliance checks, according to a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
An anti-fraud company backed by several large American financial institutions is asking the U.S. Treasury Department whether it is legally protected to manage a shared database on suspected money launderers.
Poor project management and the inability of managers to take either criticism or corrective action were among the factors that doomed the U.S. Treasury Department's $17.4 million Bank Secrecy Act data initiative, according to a federal watchdog agency.
The U.S. Treasury Department should alter or abandon its plan to collect data on cross-border transactions made through banks and money remitters, in part because of potential data management issues, say banking groups.
A U.S. Treasury Department proposal to amend suspicious activity reporting forms could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in one-off expenses for some financial institutions, even as the plan streamlines report filing.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit will unveil details in January of its Bank Secrecy Act database overhaul scheduled for completion in 2014.
The United Kingdom's chief financial regulator fined Royal Bank of Scotland nearly USD $9 million on Tuesday, the agency's largest penalty ever for anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance failures.
The U.S. Treasury Department penalizes a New York bank for transactions tied to Cuba, Italy arrests 300 in a mafia crackdown and the Asia Pacific Money Laundering Group warns of laundering through carbon emissions schemes, in this week's news roundup.
Efforts by the U.S. Treasury Department to get small banks to file their Bank Secrecy Act documents electronically are likely to face stiff resistance despite law enforcement complaints, say consultants.
Banks are revamping their financial intelligence units to tackle not only money laundering but other crimes, including fraud, as part of an effort to rein in expenses, say compliance professionals.
The U.S. Treasury Department wrote off $3.2 million in 2008 from a failed Bank Secrecy Act data mining program, bringing the losses associated with the project to at least $15.4 million.
A proposed U.S. Treasury Department database that would track cross-border funds transfers is too costly and may be harmful to the U.S. payments system, say three banking industry trade groups.
President Bush's proposed budget increase for the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is meant in part to help fund its Bank Secrecy Act E-Filing and Cross-Border Wire Transfer initiatives.