U.S. authorities will clarify in pending guidance that not all remittance companies are susceptible to illicit financial activity, a government official said Wednesday.
A consumer protection rule requiring money services businesses to disclose the fees their clients must pay has prompted dozens of banks of all sizes to consider dropping their personal remittance services.
Money services businesses are jumping through a new hoop to prove they have adequate anti-money laundering programs: in response to demands from banks, they are turning over copies of the independent reviews of their programs meant for regulators.
The U.S. Treasury Department released a long awaited regulatory exam manual for money services businesses, check cashers and money transmitters Tuesday.
Federal and state regulators have been conducting Bank Secrecy Act compliance examinations on money services businesses using a draft of a soon-to-be-released examination manual for the industry, according to regulators.
The manual, issued by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, will include language from a FinCEN ruling on due diligence for certain correspondent accounts for foreign banks, according to people familiar with the matter.
Carol Van Cleef, an attorney with Bryan Cave LLP in Washington D.C. and an expert on money laundering issues, offers an assessment of the revised BSA/AML examination manual and explained how it can aid bank compliance officers in ferreting out suspicious account activity.
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