The weapons of modern war include tanks, missiles, and jet fighters launched from aircraft carriers far out at sea. Governments can draw on national treasuries to fund the monumental costs of that kind of war in the 21st Century. But where did Hamas, a terrorist organization based in an impoverished refugee camp with few financial… Read More >>
SEC to Broker-Dealers: Tighten Up AML Controls
Do the SEC and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) need to tighten up anti-money-laundering (AML) and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism (CFT) requirements? You don’t need to know the lyrics to “Tighten Up,” by Houston’s Archie Bell & the Drells, to puzzle out the answer. It does. The SEC’s Division of Examinations (a.k.a. EXAMS) oversees broker-dealers and… Read More >>
Broadridge’s NYFIX Links to Linedata OMS & Other News
Broadridge Expands Partnership with Linedata The NYFIX Matching solution from Broadridge Financial Solutions will be integrated with the Longview order management system (OMS) from Linedata to provide more automation for NYFIX’s middle- and back-office functions, officials say. To make more automation possible, Broadridge expanded its partnership with Linedata, a provider of asset management and credit… Read More >>
Danske Bank Pays $2B to Settle Fraud Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that it has filed charges of fraud against Danske Bank, a multinational financial services corporation with headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, “for misleading investors about its anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program in its Estonian branch and failing to disclose the risks posed by the program’s significant deficiencies.” Danske Bank… Read More >>
Fines Drop 25% in First Half of 2022: Report
You don’t think it’s good news, do you? A study reports that, at mid-year, global enforcement penalties against financial institutions (and their employees) for not complying with anti-money laundering (AML), environmental, social and governance (ESG) and data-privacy regulations have fallen by a whopping 25 percent, compared to the same period last year. They’re down this… Read More >>
NatWest Bank Fined $352M via Money Laundering Case
U.K. financial institution National Westminster Bank has been fined £264.8 million ($352.7 million) after being convicted for breaches of money laundering regulation in a criminal case led by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a key financial services regulator. The fine follows a guilty plea filed by NatWest officials in early October via Westminster Magistrates Court… Read More >>
Crypto Firms Face Many AML Challenges: Q&A
(A cryptocurrency trading platform, Voyager Digital Ltd., recently announced that it is using anti-money laundering (AML) solutions from NICE Actimize. Voyager has signed onto the cloud-based AML Essentials offerings and will be using the Suspicious Activity Monitoring and Customer Due Diligence applications to monitor its operations. The news gave FTF News an opportunity to reach… Read More >>
Julius Baer Laundered Money to Support Bribery Scheme
As expected, private Swiss firm Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. (BJB) is resolving a criminal case with the U.S. Justice Department by paying a fine and penalties that are more than double what the bank admits to laundering. The full amount BJB will pay is $79.7 million. The bank has also admitted its role… Read More >>
SEC & Colorado Firm Settle SARs Filing Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged GWFS Equities Inc., a Colorado-based registered broker-dealer that is an affiliate of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co., with violating federal securities laws governing the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports. Those charges have been settled in the familiar manner: a censure, a $1.5 million penalty, and the firm’s… Read More >>
Score Priority Settles AML Case with FINRA
Broker-dealer Score Priority has settled with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which charged the New York City-based firm with anti-money laundering (AML) violations. According to FINRA, the firm, which changed its name from Just2Trade, Inc. in January 2020, “failed to develop and implement an anti-money laundering (AML) program reasonably designed to achieve and monitor the… Read More >>
