US President Donald Trump’s decision in January to classify drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists has put anti-money laundering compliance executives at US financial institutions doing business in Latin America on high alert when it comes to their AML programs. Based on the US Department of State including eight drug […]
AML Managers Question FinCEN’s New Effectiveness Test
Define effectiveness. That’s what anti-money laundering compliance directors and legal experts want the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to do after it announced late last month that it would update regulations issued under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). “Does anybody know what effective means?” was the question posed by over a dozen AML […]
Coronavirus Plagues AML Compliance Managers
The new coronavirus pandemic is testing the ability of anti-money laundering (AML) analysts and compliance managers to adjust their methodologies and technology quickly enough to catch criminal activity. Financial firms must still conduct due diligence when onboarding customers and file suspicious activity reports (SARs) if necessary within 30 to 45 days after an alert is […]
FinCEN’s New Reporting Category: Human Trafficking
Anti-money laundering managers at US banks could soon beef up their efforts to help law enforcement catch human trafficking, thanks to a new line item on their suspicious activity reports (SARs). AML executives aren’t responsible for prosecuting the criminals, but they might prioritize sniffing business activity for signs of human trafficking now that the US […]
SEC: Your Words Count in Suspicious Activity Reports
Anti-money laundering compliance managers at US clearing brokers will need to take a closer look at their process for when they file suspicious activity reports and what they say in light of a recent court ruling involving penny-stock clearing broker Alpine Securities. In granting summary judgment in favor of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s […]
Crypto Laundering: AML Regs Tighten
Anti-money laundering managers at banks and other financial institutions need to adapt their customer onboarding and transaction-monitoring approaches to cryptocurrency investors or risk regulatory fines, warn AML experts. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, already are involved in nearly ten percent of the total US$2 trillion of dirty money that is washed annually. That percentage is […]
FINRA New Ops Certification: Two Exams Better?
What is the difference between a stock, a bond, a derivative, an exchange-traded fund and other financial products? What are customer suitability rules, margin rules and custody rules? These might sound like simple questions, but for US brokerage operations managers who must abide by changes in test formats imposed by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority […]
KYC: Beneficial Owner Rules Looming
In the last 11 weeks before the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s new rules on tracking beneficial ownership of customers take effect, financial firms need to decide how deeply they intend to dig into their customer’s shareholder base. And how they intend to do it, as the rules are not always explicit. As of May […]
Love Taxes, Operations: Be a Tax Ops Director
Knowledge of processing 1099 Forms, cost basis-reporting, Internal Revenue Service Section 871(m), financial transaction taxes and corporate actions, FATCA, and issues and errors management. Over ten years of corporate tax compliance experience necessary. Those are just some of the qualifications that large global asset servicing providers — Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and JP Morgan — […]
North Korea Sanctions: Tracking the Unknown Cohorts
US President Donald Trump’s order to block any “significant financial transactions” related to North Korea is presenting US financial firms with a rigorous challenge to their anti-money laundering procedures. Trade finance, trade surveillance and other departments will have to dig far deeper into customer identities, business relationships, and transactions to protect their firms from costly […]