Draft U.S. Treasury Department rules on customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions would not prevent criminals from exploiting shell companies, according to Elise Bean, former staff director and chief counsel of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
A U.S. Treasury Department proposal that asks banks to identify corporate owners could also end up shining a light on the often murky hedge fund sector, say attorneys.
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.
U.S. investigators Wednesday disclosed the seizure of $31 million from seven American banks as part of a probe into an alleged Peruvian money laundering network that exploited industrial firms and shell companies.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it was considering imposing customer due diligence currently applied to private banking and correspondent accounts to all accountholders at depository institutions.
The U.S. Treasury Department will clarify the customer due diligence obligations that financial institutions must observe when opening accounts for businesses, a department official told lawmakers Wednesday.
The White House is throwing its support behind legislation that would require U.S. companies to better identify their beneficial owners as part of a strategy to thwart international crime groups.
The Financial Action Task Force is weighing whether to ask jurisdictions to loosen their privacy laws and require companies to retain data on their owners, among other changes to the group's standards.
The chairman of the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will reintroduce a measure that would require company formation agents to record beneficial ownership data, a government official said Tuesday.
The head of a powerful U.S. Senate panel is pushing to include new corporate transparency measures as part of broader financial reform legislation, according to former and current staffers.
Shell companies created in the United States under lax incorporation laws are allowing sanctioned countries to engage in illicit activities, according to three law enforcement officials testifying before a U.S. Senate panel Thursday.
The United States should implement stricter measures to expose how tax evaders and money launderers move funds to and from bank secrecy jurisdictions, U.S. lawmakers and consultants said Thursday.
Despite Chinas acceptance into FATF, money laundering and corruption in the country may get worse before they get better as root problems remain unaddressed, AML professionals say.
The reduce the threat of shell companies, banks must ask questions to understand the nature of any business opening an account and should seek proof that the business produces something, says David Caruso, an AML compliance expert.