HSBC is paying $2 billion, or 5 weeks’ worth of its profit, to avoid criminal charges in drug cartel laundering case
The Justice Department agreed to suspend criminal charges against the world’s largest bank and its US subsidiary for five years if the bank agreed to pay the penalty. US regulators continue to find weaknesses in the way HSBC Holdings tries to prevent money laundering, according to people familiar with the matter, even after the British bank was forced to pay nearly $2 billion in penalties and invested millions in increasing its compliance. [Read More…]Standard Bank Falls Foul as FCA Turns Up Dial on Money Laundering
Not always knowing who it was doing business with cost the U.K. arm of South Africa’s Standard Bank £7.6 million ($12.2 million) Thursday. The Financial Conduct Authority said the bank failed to guard against potential money laundering and terrorism financing by making only cursory checks on some customers between 2007 and 2011. The fine comes as banks face a toughened-up regulator. The FCA started clamping down on lax controls around money laundering in 2011, after a review of 27 banks turned up accounts linked to known fraudsters and politicians charged with corruption. [Read More…]U.S. regulators tell Rabobank: Fix anti-money laundering programs
(Reuters) – U.S. regulators told Dutch bank Rabobank to fix problems with its anti-money laundering programs last month after identifying compliance issues in an order made public on Friday. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) entered into a consent order with Rabobank in December. The U.S. bank regulator included the order in a list of recent enforcement actions that was published on Friday. Rabobank, which has many California locations, was fined $1 billion by U.S. and European regulators last year for rigging benchmark interest rates. Several top executives stepped down, and three former traders were criminally charged this week. [Read More…]Vatican Bank Chief Touts New Security Overhauls
The Vatican bank expects its Italian peers to gradually re-establish full business dealings as it implements strict anti-money-laundering measures, its president said in an interview on Wednesday. The Institute for the Works of Religion, as it is officially called, has faced decades of scandals and now sees restoring public trust as paramount. “Many of the points raised in the past on [weak anti-money-laundering] compliance and transparency were correct,” said Ernst von Freyberg in his modest office at IOR, located in a medieval tower inside Vatican City walls, right in the heart of Rome. His office is inside the papal palace. [Read More…]St Maarten judge extends detention for lawmaker accused of bribery, money laundering
A judge says a St. Maarten lawmaker accused of bribery can be held for questioning for another week. Independent lawmaker Patrick Illidge was taken into custody last week and questioned on allegations of bribery and money laundering. On Thursday, a judge ruled that prosecutors could hold him for at least eight days more. [Read More…]Electronic Funds Transfer Reporting: Once is Not Enough
On January 9, 2014, the Government of Canada announced draft legislative proposals (Proposals) that would require financial institutions, money services businesses and casinos subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PC Act) to report to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) international electronic funds transfers (EFTs) of C$10,000 or more sent or received at the request of a client. The proposed new reporting obligations are aimed at combatting international tax evasion and are in addition to the reporting requirements under the PC Act. If enacted into legislation, the Proposals will require these businesses and institutions which are already subject to the PC Act, to file with the Minister of National Revenue information returns in respect of international EFTs of C$10,000 or more, in addition to the EFT reports these regulated entities are already required to submit to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) under the authority of the PC Act. While regulated entities are required to report EFTs to FINTRAC, the CRA’s ability to access these reports is limited by the information-sharing provisions of the PC Act. [Read More…]Industry News
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When: Wednesday, April 2 to Thursday, April 3, 2014
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