The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday authorized American banks to broadly conduct indirect transactions with their Cuban counterparts as part of an effort to stimulate bilateral trade between the nations.
U.S. Treasury Department officials on Tuesday lifted banking and export restrictions against Cuba they say have stymied yearlong efforts to normalize economic and diplomatic ties with the island-nation.
American depository institutions' hesitancy to establish links with banks in Cuba is likely to impede newly authorized trade with the country, according to U.S. officials.
The White House announced Tuesday plans to excise Cuba from a list of countries that support terrorism, a step that would remove one of the largest hurdles to U.S. financial ties to the nation.
The partial lifting of U.S. sanctions against Cuba is raising new questions for American banks that have issued credit cards to clients traveling to the island-nation, according to compliance experts.
The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions enforcer issued regulations Thursday permitting American banks to transact directly with their Cuban counterparts for the first time in decades.
High-profile sanctions cases are spurring large banks and third-party software vendors to improve how they identify when counterparts and clients secretly act on behalf of blacklisted entities, say compliance experts.
The Royal Bank of Scotland will pay the United States $500 million over Bank Secrecy Act and sanctions violations committed by the now defunct ABN Amro, U.S. officials said Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department has extended a deadline on how long mutual funds have to record personal data for investigators on their clients who send or receive over $3,000.
The U.S. Treasury Department is focusing less on punishing individuals who travel to Cuba and more on egregious, high-dollar violations, according to a government report.
Some South Florida-based travel agencies are at risk of incurring state and federal penalties despite having received approval to send money to Cuba from one U.S. Treasury Department agency.
A contradiction between U.S. sanctions rules and federal guidance on Cuban money remitters is prompting some compliance staff to scratch their heads, say analysts.
New U.S. Treasury Department regulations easing economic sanctions against Cuba and the compliance burden of financial institutions could make it easier for money remitters to break the rules, say analysts.
For U.S. financial institutions, recent talks about a potential thaw between the United States and Cuba have signaled more than just a possible end to a Cold War enmity. They’ve signaled dollar signs.
Despite all the rhetoric, combating the networks that finance terrorism and criminal organizations is not a priority for the international community, according to Jimmy Gurulé, a law professor at Notre Dame.
The U.S. Treasury Department will likely move quickly in drafting regulations that loosen most restrictions on money remitted from the United States to Cuba, say banking professionals.
The Obama administration said Monday that it would lift restrictions on how much money Cuban Americans can send to Cuba, easing financial constraints first established in the 1960s.
The incoming Obama administration is likely to scale back limits on remittances to Cuba imposed by President Bush, a move that would be welcomed by the U.S. financial community, according to bank regulatory specialists.