News
printRelated News
The federal regulator of national banks is set to crack down on financial institutions that fail to address anti-money laundering shortcomings outlined in non-public regulatory reports, a U.S. official said Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department Friday revised compliance expectations and examination procedures for banking units that conduct limited operations from the United States on behalf of their foreign parent companies.
A number of large U.S. and international banks are dropping customer accounts and services tied to high-risk geographical regions and lines of business in response to regulatory pressure, including enforcement actions.
Federal financial regulators have asked more than a dozen large and midsize banks to better ensure that validations of their anti-money laundering risk models are conducted independently, say officials.
In every longstanding relationship, there comes a point when both parties begin to question something they once thought they had agreed on. Talk to a Bank Secrecy Act officer at a conference, over dinner or in a bar and one point of friction with federal regulators inevitably becomes clear.
A slew of recent enforcement actions issued by federal regulators contain stern warnings for senior bank managers that they are responsible for their institution's compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering rules, say analysts.
Federal examiners are requiring bank boards of directors to be more deeply involved in their institutions' anti-money laundering programs, say compliance officers who have recently faced regulatory audits.
Bank board of directors members can expect to pay civil money penalties if their institutions fail to correct Bank Secrecy Act violations, a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. official said on Tuesday.
While it may seem like a relatively minor part of a bank's anti-money laundering program, federal examiners are increasingly paying attention to the role boards of directors can play in stemming financial crime.
