On August 1, 2024, the Department of Justice launched its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program (the “Pilot Program”). Under this 3-year initiative managed by DOJ’s Criminal Division, a whistleblower may be eligible...more
8/12/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Money Laundering ,
Pilot Programs ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
FinCEN’s recent preliminary rulemaking aims to enhance and modernize regulations with requirements and priorities that affect a broad range of “financial institutions” across industries—but lacks concrete guidance on...more
7/26/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations
On June 14, 2024, President Biden declared June 15th World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. In honor of the day, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reminded financial institutions (FIs) to remain vigilant in...more
6/24/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Elder Abuse ,
Exploitation ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Scams ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Vulnerability Assessments
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently issued a Financial Trend Analysis (“Analysis”) focusing on patterns and trends identified in Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) data linked to Elder Financial Exploitation...more
5/2/2024
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
BSA/AML ,
Elder Abuse ,
Exploitation ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Scams ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a joint alert and a supplemental alert (the...more
9/18/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Policy ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
Second Post in a Two-Post Series on the CTA Implementing Regulations -
As we just blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) has issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) regarding the beneficial ownership...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) recently complied with two important deadlines under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AML Act”) — issuing national priorities for AML and countering the financing of...more
First Blog Post in an Extended Series on Legislative Changes to BSA/AML Regulatory Regime -
Change is upon us. The U.S. House and Senate have passed – over a Presidential veto – the National Defense Authorization Act...more
Regulators Provide Greater Transparency into BSA/AML Enforcement Process. On August 13, 2020, the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the...more
8/27/2020
/ Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Bank Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Internal Controls ,
Joint Statements ,
Transparency
Regulators Provide Greater Transparency into BSA/AML Enforcement Process -
On August 13, 2020 the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the...more
8/24/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Compliance ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Internal Controls ,
Joint Statements
On November 12, 2019, FinCEN issued its latest Advisory on the Financial Action Task Force-Identified Jurisdictions with Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism Deficiencies and Relevant Actions by the...more
11/18/2019
/ Advisory Opinions ,
AML/CFT ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bahamas ,
BSA/AML ,
Cambodia ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corrective Actions ,
Corruption ,
Countermeasures ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Failure to Comply ,
FATF ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Banks ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Ghana ,
Iran ,
Money Laundering ,
Mongolia ,
North Korea ,
Pakistan ,
Panama ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Public Statements ,
Risk Management ,
Risk-Based Approaches ,
Suspicious Activities ,
Syria ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
White Collar Crimes ,
WMD ,
Yemen ,
Zimbabwe
The state-legal marijuana industry in the United States continues to grow – as does support for it. Ten states and Washington, D.C. have legalized recreational adult use and 23 other states allow some form of medical...more
First Post in a Two-Part Series -
How do financial institutions get in trouble with their regulators? Recent AML enforcement actions suggest that the following two failures are at the heart of most of these actions: (1)...more
11/2/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Information Sharing ,
Internal Controls ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Tone At The Top ,
Transaction Monitoring
FinCEN Cites Low Risk of Money Laundering and High Regulatory Burden of Rule -
On September 7, 2018, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued permanent exceptive relief (“Relief”) to the Beneficial...more
9/17/2018
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FinCEN ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
Congress enacted the safe harbor provision of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), codified at 31 U.S.C. §5318(g)(3)(A), to shield financial institutions, their officers and employees from civil liability for reporting known or...more
On June 12, 2018, FinCEN issued an “Advisory on Human Rights Abuses Enabled by Corrupt Senior Foreign Political Figures and their Financial Facilitators” to highlight the connection between corrupt senior foreign political...more
6/19/2018
/ Corruption ,
Exploitation ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Official ,
Human Rights ,
Money Laundering ,
Offshore Companies ,
PEP ,
Shell Corporations ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
White Collar Crimes
Last year, we posted FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Rule: A Practical Guide to Being Prepared for Implementation regarding the Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions Rule (the “Beneficial Ownership...more
On September 15th, FinCEN issued its latest “Advisory on FATF-Identified Jurisdictions with AML/CTF Deficiencies.” The FATF, or the Financial Action Task Force, is a 37-member intergovernmental body, including the United...more
9/20/2017
/ AML/CFT ,
Banking Sector ,
Beneficial Owner ,
BSA/AML ,
Due Diligence ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Risk Management ,
Terrorist Financing
In May 2016, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued its final rule on Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Requirements for Financial Institutions. ...more
In part two of our review of the 2016 developments in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the criminal money laundering statutes, forfeiture, and related issues, we discuss four additional key...more
2/7/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Bitcoin ,
BSA/AML ,
Civil Forfeiture ,
Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Institutions ,
Forfeiture ,
Money Laundering ,
Virtual Currency
2016 was a busy year for developments in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the criminal money laundering statutes, forfeiture, and related issues. In part one of our year-in-review, we discuss six key...more
2/3/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Casinos ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
FATF ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Fines ,
Gambling ,
Gaming ,
Geographic Targeting Order ,
Money Laundering ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
NYDFS ,
Offshore Funds ,
Panama Papers ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Market ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Tax Evasion
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has finalized a new regulation setting forth rigorous standards for monitoring and filtering programs to monitor transactions for potential anti-money laundering (AML) and...more
7/11/2016
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
BSA/AML ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Foreign Banks ,
Lenders ,
Money Laundering ,
Money Transmitter ,
Mortgages ,
New Regulations ,
NYDFS ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Transaction Monitoring
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has finalized a new regulation setting rigorous standards for monitoring and filtering programs to monitor transactions for potential anti-money laundering (AML) and Bank...more
7/6/2016
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
BSA/AML ,
Certificates of Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Banks ,
Money Transmitter ,
NYDFS ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Senior Managers ,
Transaction Monitoring
As part of the U.S. Treasury Department's ongoing efforts to prevent bad actors from using U.S. companies to conceal money laundering, tax evasion, and other illicit financial activities, the Financial Crimes Enforcement...more
5/11/2016
/ Bad Actors ,
Bank Holding Company Act ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Covered Financial Institutions ,
Due Diligence ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
IRS ,
Limited Liability Company (LLC) ,
Panama Papers ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Evasion
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced the largest coordinated international law enforcement effort ever directed at an online cyber-criminal forum. Financial institutions and other companies should consider...more
7/24/2015
/ Best Practices ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FBI ,
Financial Institutions ,
Hackers ,
Malware ,
New Guidance ,
NIST