Recent Developments in Anti-Money Laundering - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Investment Management Update – Exit Strategies
Public-private partnerships across the world between financial institutions, financial intelligence units and investigative authorities have laid the foundation to advance criminal investigations. However, there is further...more
On October 10, 2024, the financial services community was stunned by the $3.1 billion settlement between the federal government and TD Bank over Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) violations. TD Bank’s...more
On 10/10/24, FinCEN assessed a record $1.3 billion penalty against TD Bank for BSA violations. This unprecedented penalty should function as a cautionary message and a warning to all financial institutions. All financial...more
On 9 October 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published its first ever unilateral guidance specifically addressed to financial institutions (FIs). The Guidance to Financial...more
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
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Aug. 28, 2024, issued a final rule to help safeguard the investment adviser sector from illicit finance activity (Final Rule). The Final...more
On June 28, 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced long-anticipated proposed rules on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism program effectiveness;...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 U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on June 28, 2024, announced a proposed rule to "strengthen and modernize financial institutions' anti-money laundering and countering the...more
On February 13, the US Department of the Treasury’s (USDT) Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) which, if adopted, would sweep Security and Exchange Commission-Registered...more
On February 13, 2024, the U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding a new proposed rule that would require certain investment advisers to apply anti-money...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a new notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), referred to herein as the "Proposed Rule," that would subject SEC-registered...more
What You Need to Know - In October 2023, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) enacted multiple sanctions targeting the supply chain of fentanyl and other illicit drugs. In addition to...more
New York’s Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) recently announced a $100 million settlement with Coinbase, Inc., one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, for Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”)...more
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced yesterday that they had reached settlements for over $24 million and $29 million,...more
The SEC continues to focus a portion of its enforcement attention on registrants' obligations with regard to anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and transaction monitoring. In this post, we provide a refresher on the...more
On March 7, 2022, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued an alert (the “FinCEN Alert”) urging financial institutions to proactively guard against possible attempts to evade recently implemented sanctions...more
1. AML Laws - Federal anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws are complex in nature and apply to a broad category of institutions and businesses. One of the most important AML laws is the Bank Secrecy Act, which obligates...more
Money laundering compliance is a critical area for banks, broker-dealers and others in the financial world. The importance of this area was recently highlighted by the passage of the Corporate Transparency Act or CTA to...more
The Commission periodically has filed enforcement actions against broker-dealers for failing to file SARs - suspicious activity reports - typically centered on a failure to file reports regarding microcap issuers. Those...more
In October of last year, we wrote about the challenges faced by virtual currency businesses in complying with the Travel Rule following new guidance from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Financial Crimes...more
Compliance Failures - On March 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a consent order assessing a $450,000 civil money penalty against Michael LaFontaine, former Chief...more
Compliance professionals face extraordinary risks – not just for the enterprise but personal risks. CCOs should not panic or overreact when the government brings an enforcement action against a compliance officer for a...more
The Office of Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC) has published its 2019 annual report (the Annual Report), which summarized the OCC’s strategic priorities for 2019. The Annual Report also highlighted the OCC’s key...more
The UK Law Commission has published a report criticising existing anti-money laundering legislation and providing recommendations to improve the quality of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). What should we make of these...more