As U.S. officials work to shield American prepaid cards from abuse by financial crooks, foreign-issued stored value products remain a relatively easy avenue to move money into the United States anonymously.
Lobbying by the world's largest stored value payment facilitator has indefinitely delayed, and perhaps permanently blocked, a plan to give customs officials the ability to read prepaid cards, say sources.
American officials will begin field-testing prepaid card readers at U.S. border stops next month as part of the lead-up to the Treasury Department regulations governing their cross-border transport, say officials.
A dearth of U.S. Treasury Department regulations governing the cross-border transportation of prepaid access products has hamstrung American efforts to combat Mexican drug-trafficking organizations, according to lawmakers.
The U.S. Treasury Department's proposals to better regulate prepaid access products fail to outline how the new rules will be implemented and enforced, according to a governmental watchdog group.
Proposed regulations by the U.S. Treasury Department on the prepaid card industry are raising questions and concerns among anti-money laundering compliance consultants on how the rules can be implemented and enforced.
The U.S. Treasury Department will miss a Feb. 22 deadline set by Congress to implement rules subjecting stored value cards to the Bank Secrecy Act, according to consultants and bank lobbyists.
The U.S. Supreme Court okays the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and a prominent Florida lawyer pleads guilty to bilking investors out of $1.2 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme, in this week's news roundup.
We never said compliance professionals had it easy, and 2010 doesn't look to be a year when things will be any better for the anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing industry.
The European Union proposed rules Tuesday on how electronic money might be issued, a step meant to further expand the market for prepaid and stored value payment products.
A U.S. Treasury Department ruling that clears merchants that reload stored value cards of Bank Secrecy Act compliance responsibilities may unfairly place that responsibility on bank sponsors of reloadable card programs, consultants say.
Merchants and automatic teller machines that help customers reload stored value cards do not necessarily qualify as money services businesses subject to anti-money laundering regulations, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
The U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit did not meet a number of its 2007 goals, including finalizing anti-money laundering rules for investment and commodity trading advisors, a government report released Wednesday revealed.
Banks that use third parties to manage and distribute their stored-value, or prepaid, cards must make sure Bank Secrecy Act compliance responsibilities are clearly designated, anti-money laundering compliance consultants say.