Not all money transmitters are overly vulnerable to money launderers and terrorist financiers and banks should refrain from automatically closing their accounts, U.S. Treasury Department officials said Monday.
Failing to find conventional financial services, some money services businesses have asked armored car companies to bank on their behalf without the knowledge of the institutions maintaining the accounts, say consultants.
Thousands of small money services businesses have lost some federal anti-money laundering oversight and guidance due to budget cuts involving two U.S. Treasury agencies, according to current and former government officials.
When training agents working through money services businesses, compliance officials should take a creative, multimedia approach, said Anthony Rodriguez, global compliance officer at the Los Angeles-based Associated Foreign Exchange, Inc (AFEX).
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.
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.
U.S. federal agents and informants posing as drug dealers helped arrest 27 money remitters in a New York undercover operation.
print