Is Edward Snowden a Whistleblower?
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) adopted a final rule (the Final Rule) on August 28 that will treat certain investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers as financial...more
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Proposed Rule revising its regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requiring financial institutions to...more
The Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, also known as the “BSA,” enacted in 1970, established requirements for record-keeping and reporting by banks and other financial institutions. The BSA is designed to, among...more
The Proposed Rule Would Subject Certain Investment Advisers to a Broad Range of AML/CFT Obligations and Represents a Significant Development for the Sector - Regulators have long considered the lack of anti-money...more
In 1970, Congress passed the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, commonly known as the “Bank Secrecy Act” (BSA). The BSA is often referred to as an “anti-money laundering” (AML) law or jointly as “BSA/AML.” The...more
Anti-money laundering (“AML”) issues have been a focus of regulators and law enforcement for the past decade and will likely continue to be a priority issue area for the Biden Administration. The AML landscape is shifting...more
On New Year’s Day, Congress overrode President Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2021 fiscal year, turning the bill into law without requiring the president’s signature. The NDAA includes...more
The Agencies issued a joint Fact Sheet that lists considerations for a risk-based approach when it comes to charities and nonprofits. While the Fact Sheet purports to not impose additional obligations on banks, it is hard to...more
Section 314 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Sec 314) was drafted by Congress in 2001 to allow financial institutions to work with law enforcement agencies and with each other to support the common goal of deterring money laundering...more
Financial institutions with anti-money laundering responsibilities under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) take note: there’s a new sheriff in town. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently finished its fiscal year with...more
Final Post in a Three-Post Series Regarding Recent Regulatory Action by FinCEN - On September 29, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) published a request for comment on existing regulations regarding...more
Just because a bank can doesn’t mean a bank should. Our Government & Internal Investigations Team discusses FinCEN’s new statement on banks that pool resources for Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance....more
Fulfilling today’s requirements for anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing/sanctions compliance is no easy task for financial institutions. ...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) hit a Texas bank with a $2 million Assessment of Civil Money Penalty for Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) violations of Section 312 of the USA PATRIOT Act...more
FinCEN recentlty announced entry of a $2 million assessment against Lone Star National Bank, a private bank operating out of Texas, for the bank’s allegedly willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and inadequate...more
As we recently blogged, the Royal United Services Institute (“RUSI”) for Defence and Security Studies — a U.K. think tank – has released a study: The Role of Financial Information-Sharing Partnerships in the Disruption of...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released an advisory on September 20, 2017, to alert financial institutions of widespread public corruption in Venezuela and the methods Venezuelan senior political figures...more
As widely reported, the Spanish police raided last year the Madrid offices of the Chinese state-run Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (“ICBC”), the world’s biggest bank by assets. In the nearly 18 months following that...more
Late last week, Congressional intelligence committees reportedly received some information from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) related to investigations into Russia’s attack on the 2016 U.S....more
Today we are very pleased to welcome guest blogger Greg Baer, who will address a series of significant issues posed by a detailed paper published by The Clearing House, a banking association and payments company that is owned...more
“Sometimes, the third time really is the charm” wrote the District Court for the District of Columbia on April 14, 2017. In its opinion, the court upheld FinCEN’s imposition of the Patriot Act’s fifth special measure against...more
Last week, FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) issued a formal Advisory to Financial Institutions and published FAQs outlining specific cybersecurity events that should be reported through Suspicious Activity...more
Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 - Requires U.S. financial institutions to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering by keeping records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, and file reports...more
FinCEN has proposed extending its anti-money laundering (AML) program requirement for banks to banks that are not subject to regulation by a federal functional regulator, including state chartered limited purpose trust...more
The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (the Proposed Rule) on September 1, 2015 that would impose anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for investment...more