Anti-corruption legislation required of countries covered by the largest-ever international trade deal will likely result in a jump in investigatory queries for banks in the United States and Asia, according to analysts.
In response to Mexico's restrictions on U.S. dollar deposits, drug traffickers have turned to funneling dirty money through accounts opened for seemingly legitimate businesses, American officials warned Wednesday.
Trade-based schemes and bulk cash smuggling are among the most common tactics used by international money launderers, according to Joseph Gallion, the deputy assistant director of the Financial, Narcotics and Special Operations Division for the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Revisions to Mexico's anti-money laundering strategy promised earlier this month must account for regulatory-gaps in trade-based money laundering, the continuing problem of casas de cambio and the use of U.S. dollars in Mexico, say ex-law enforcement officials and compliance professionals.
Criminals are exploiting inadequate safeguards in free trade zones to launder money, evade taxes and illegally ship material used to build weapons of mass destruction, according to an intergovernmental group.
Financial institutions providing credit in international transactions should check for suspicious activity pointing to trade-based money laundering, a banking consortium said Thursday.
Though headlines are focused on the subprime mortgage crisis and recessionary fears, criminals are still finding ways to launder funds, including through trade-based finance , says Elaine Carey, Senior Vice President and National Director of Control Risks, an independent risk consultancy office.
Countries need to establish training programs to help bank regulators and law enforcement agents detect the growing problem of trade-based money laundering, FATF said in guidance issued Tuesday.
Mexico and the United States will create a joint trade intelligence organization to collect and analyze data on the movement of goods between the two countries as part of an effort to stem money laundering and fraud.
The Financial Action Task Force, a global financial crime watchdog is set to release three reports highlighting the methods that money launderers and terrorists can employ to exploit trade and electronic commerce and facilitate weapons proliferation.
Technological developments offer governments unprecedented ability to address trade-based crime. But there's a problem, according to Nikos Passas, a professor who studies financial crime at Boston-based Northeastern University: governments aren't utilizing available tools.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Kevin Delli-Colli spoke with Fortent Inform reporter Matt Squire on Nov. 28 about bulk cash smuggling and what banks should be looking for when it comes to trade transactions.