The New York District Attorney's Office has hired a prominent U.S. Justice Department official to head a new bureau established to investigate financial fraud, bribery, terrorist financing and money laundering.
The formation of a federal task force aimed at fighting financial crime will likely mean more money laundering investigations at banks, according to a U.S. Treasury Department official.
Africa is fast becoming one of the world's largest hubs for smuggling cocaine, heroin and prescription drugs from South America and Asia into Europe and the United States, according to a United Nations watchdog group.
Compliance officers may do well by borrowing from the pages of law enforcement agents and private investigators in performing due diligence on clients with offshore holdings, according to consultants.
If a bank releases too much or too little information or takes too long to respond to a request from law enforcement officials, an investigation might be bogged down or even compromised.