ACAMS Insights: free resources on topical issues

TOP STORY

Jan

Former Swedbank Chief Acquitted Over AML Disclosures

On Wednesday, January 25, 2023, a Swedish court cleared Swedbank’s former chief executive Birgitte Bonnesen of charges that she deliberately misled investors about the extent of the lender’s anti-money laundering failures in the Baltics. (Sofi Eriksson, News Øresund)

Legs & Regs

OFAC Adds Nice Entries to Burma Sanctions List

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department issued a notice concerning the addition of six individuals and three entities to the Specially Designated Nationals List with respect to the sanctions regime against Burma.

January 31, 2023

FINTRAC Alerts to ML Linked to Wildlife Trade

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada published an Operational Alert concerning money laundering tied to the illegal wildlife trade.

January 31, 2023

OECD Cautions Hungary on Deadline to Implement Anti-Corruption Recommendations

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a statement concerning Hungary’s deficiency with respect to its OECD Anti-Bribery Convention commitments.

January 31, 2023

US Treasury Announces New Burma Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury announced that new sanctions were imposed on individuals and entities affiliated with the brutal military coup d’état that deposed Burma’s democratically elected government two years ago.

January 31, 2023

Financial Crime Matters: Making Sense of the Current Chaos in Crypto

November 1, 2022

In this episode of Financial Crime Matters, Kieran Beer of ACAMS moneylaundering.com and Joby Carpenter, a former U.K. Financial Conduct Authority official now with ACAMS, discuss the current climate for cryptocurrencies.

Sanctions Space: Global Trade Analyst Discusses Russian Invasion, Indirect Consequences

March 10, 2022

In this episode of Sanctions Space, Justine Walker of ACAMS and Emily Rees of the European Centre for International Political Economy discuss the commercial impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Bank Secrecy Act reports filed between March 2022 and Oct. 2022 involving Russian oligarchs listed the following suspicious activities:

A. Transactional patterns associated with corruption and sanctions evasion.
B. The purchase of high-value goods or real estate.
C. Changes in financial flows linked to property or companies.
D. All of the above.

View all quizzes

More News

UK Kleptocracy Cell Steps Up Efforts Against Corruption, Russia Sanctions Evasion

By : Koos Couvée

More than £11 billion of assets that U.K. authorities have frozen pursuant to financial and commercial embargos against Russia over the past year link back to "targets" of a new unit tasked with combating sanctions evasion and corruption, a senior investigator said Tuesday.

January 31, 2023

Weekly Roundup: US Blacklists Wagner, Binance Loses US Banking Partner, and More

Germany tackles STR backlog, FinCEN raises alarm over commercial real estate, and more, in the weekly roundup.

January 27, 2023

With Russia, FinCEN Sees US Commercial Properties as Sanctions Vulnerability

By : Benjamin Hardy

Blacklisted "Russian elites and their proxies" can easily plow funds into U.S. commercial real estate because the underlying transactions routinely involve complex financial arrangements and several layers of ownership, U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has warned.

January 26, 2023

Amid Deep Skepticism, German Officials Claim Success Against STR Backlog

By : Gabriel Vedrenne

Germany's financial intelligence unit has whittled down most of the country's latest embarrassing backlog of tens of thousands of unreviewed suspicious transaction reports since December, when the full extent of the problem came to light.

January 26, 2023

Financial Crime Matters: Financial Institutions and the Fight Against Online Sexual Abuse of Children

By : Kieran Beer

In this episode of Financial Crime Matters, Kieran Beer of moneylaundering.com, Tiffany Polyak of ACAMS and Jonathan Dupont of Western Union, discuss how the financial services industry can help combat sexual abuse of children by online predators.

January 26, 2023

Enforcement Actions

National Bank of Georgia Fines Currency Exchange Operator GEL8,000 for AML/CTF Shortcomings

The National Bank of Georgia imposed a fine of GEL 8,000 to David Bekauri, a currency exchange operator, for anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing shortcomings.

June 20, 2022

National Bank of Georgia Fines Currency Exchange Operator GEL9,000 for AML/CTF Shortcomings

The National Bank of Georgia imposed a fine of GEL 9,000 to Tamazi Gugumberidze, a currency exchange operator, for anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing shortcomings.

June 20, 2022