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Senate Committee Calls for Stronger PEP Rules, But Passage Seen as Unlikely
By Colby Adams
printA U.S. Senate subcommittee called for reforms Thursday to better detect when corrupt foreign politicians hide dirty money in the United States, including the implementation of federal beneficial ownership rules. Lawmakers in the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations recommended the changes during a hearing on how foreign political figures used accounts at Bank of America and HSBC, as well as other institutions, to launder funds. The senators released details of the violations, which included the abuse of shell companies, in a 325-page report issued late Wednesday. The report recommends that U.S. financial institutions broaden their monitoring of politically exposed persons...
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U.S. officials will formally propose this month a long-planned rule that would require banks to identify the owners of their corporate clients, according to an Office of Management and Budget schedule.
Intergovernmental plans to better identify corporate owners will do little to thwart financial crooks, even at great cost to banks and governments, according to an academic report on offshore financial flows.
EU parliamentarians voted Tuesday to require member-states to update their laws targeting money launderers and the financiers of terrorism, in part by naming corporate owners.
A European Parliamentary committee Thursday approved far-reaching changes to the EU's rules combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including an amendment that would require nations to publicize corporate owners.
A U.K. plan to name the owners of privately-held corporations will help shine a light on shell companies, but how revealing that effort will be remains uncertain.
British asset management firms are failing to adequately address their vulnerabilities to money laundering, bribery and corruption, the United Kingdom's chief financial regulator said Thursday.
British officials are set to propose legislation that would require private corporations and limited liability partnerships to publicly disclose their individual owners, a U.K. minister said Monday.
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