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To Police Agents, MSB Industry, Regulators Need Better Cooperation, Creativity, Panelists Say
By Brian Monroe
printMoney services businesses and their regulators generally agree that the industry's biggest anti-money laundering vulnerabilities are the multiple remitter agents. These agents, which maintain business relationships with two or more MSBs at once, can split large transactions and send the smaller amounts through several companies, hindering compliance professionals at the various MSBs and regulators from identifying possible illegal structuring of payments and other suspicious behavior. But successfully policing all the underlying agents participating in the $100-billion a year global market could require more government oversight, according to compliance professionals participating in a panel discussion on the matter Tuesday at Money...
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An individually-owned and operated money services business in Michigan will pay $12,000 and cease operations for failing to properly screen thousands of wire transfers to Yemen, U.S. regulators said Friday.
Arizona has granted the nation's largest money transmitter an additional three months to improve its anti-money laundering compliance program and avoid criminal prosecution.
One of the country's top lobbying groups for money services businesses will ask lawmakers in February to streamline how the companies obtain licenses to operate in the United States.
The terms of a $100 million settlement disclosed Friday by MoneyGram for anti-money laundering lapses will cost the Dallas-based money remitter nearly $200 million once completed, regulatory documents show.
A 2008 investigation of Colombian cash couriers by customs officials and the U.S. Justice Department that made headlines for its ties to European cocaine sales had a lesser known result: Bank Secrecy Act regulations.
An agreement by one the nation's largest money transmitters to better share transactional data with investigators has resulted in greater scrutiny, both for the business and its chief competitor.
Dozens of small banks and credit unions have begun courting money services businesses over the past year, offering financial services to the high-risk clients in exchange for compliance-related fees.
Money services businesses have been slow to respond to an April request by the U.S. Treasury Department to provide more data on their individual agents, say compliance professionals.
The U.S. Treasury Department is in the final stages of levying a $12,000 civil money penalty against a New Jersey-based money remitter for failing to register as a money services business.
A U.S. Treasury Department plan to increase reporting on cross-border transactions would allow federal regulators and investigators to more easily detect unregistered money remitters - if they can sift through the data.
The Internal Revenue Service's anti-money laundering division is in the process of revamping how it examines tens of thousands of money services businesses, according to a former U.S. Treasury Department official.
Money services businesses and sellers of stored value cards will know this summer whether final rules by the U.S. Treasury Department will increase their anti-money laundering compliance duties and costs.
A report by an intergovernmental watchdog highlighting the anti-money laundering weaknesses of more than two dozen countries is prompting non-bank financial institutions to drop customers and avoid risky markets.
The Internal Revenue Service is ill-equipped to examine money services businesses for federal compliance, industry leaders and lawmakers told a congressional subcommittee Wednesday.
For money transmitters, proving to a bank that your company isn't too big of an anti-money laundering risk to take on can be difficult, even more so when you've encountered compliance problems.
Western Union will pay $94 million to resolve claims by the Arizona Attorney General's office that the company wasn't doing enough to combat Mexican money launderers and human traffickers.
The U.S. Justice Department nets 22 suspects in its largest ever investigation into individuals for FCPA violations, and FinCEN issues a ruling on whether domestic bill payment services companies are MSBs, in this week's roundup.
That mobile banking and cell phone remittances are drawing people into the formal global financial system is more an opportunity than a compliance problem, according to Jean Pesme.
Sigue, based in San Fernando, Calif., will forfeit $15 million and spend $9.7 million to upgrade its AML program as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. Fortent Inform first reported the record penalty on January 11.
The settlement, which involves a $15 million forfeiture and a $9.7 million commitment to upgrade anti-money laundering procedures, will be included in a deferred prosecution agreement that could be issued as early as next week, people familiar with the matter said.