U.S. banks may need to update their anti-money-laundering (AML) policies as a result of key provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 (NDAA), which primarily covers appropriations for the U.S. Department of Defense programs, activities, and military personnel. However, the NDAA also covers many “matters relating to foreign nations,” according to the overview… Read More >>
Mizuho Americas Revamps Client Onboarding: Case Study
Mizuho Americas, an investment and corporate bank that is part of Tokyo-based Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., has gone live with client onboarding software solutions from vendor Fenergo in an effort to have know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory processes that can scale along with the firm’s rapid growth. Mizuho Americas officials “examined… Read More >>
Interactive Brokers Settles SARs & AML Cases for $38M
Interactive Brokers (IB) will be writing several checks and money orders as it pays $38 million in penalties to three industry regulators for alleged failures in filing Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), and anti-money laundering (AML) controls — a clear sign that authorities are cracking down on the obligation to monitor suspicious activity. The SEC is… Read More >>
Commerzbank Fined $47M via AML Controls Case
A U.K. regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has fined the London branch of Commerzbank AG $47.5 million for allegedly using inadequate anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls from October 2012 to September 2017. A representative of the international bank based in Frankfurt, German, tells FTF News that the FCA investigation uncovered “no actual financial… Read More >>
Korean Bank Faces $86M in Fines & Criminal Charges
Criminal charges have been filed against the Industrial Bank Of Korea (IBK) for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, who notes that the charges will be “deferred for two years” under an agreement in which IBK “admitted its conduct and agreed to pay $51 million.” In addition, the… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Fined $26M on AML Deficiency Charges
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. has been fined a total of $26 million — $13 million by the SEC and another $13 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — for mismanaging its anti-money laundering (AML) responsibilities, especially after becoming part of Bank of America in 2009. In response to the fines… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Fined $45M for Derivatives Reporting Failures
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Bank of America — Merrill Lynch (BAML) £34.5 million ($45.7 million) for failing to report derivatives transactions between 2014 and 2016. The enforcement action — which relates to 68.5 million exchange traded derivative transactions — is the first of its kind against a firm for failing to… Read More >>
Firms Need Multi-Disciplinary & Complex IT Responses to Sanctions
World events are hitting home for financial services firms as the Obama and Trump administrations have been steadily issuing a growing list of complex economic sanctions against countries that have been hotspots across the globe, including Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, and Syria. These sanctions are compelling firms to formulate multi-disciplinary responses and… Read More >>
SWIFT Extends Financial Crime Fighting to Emerging Markets
SWIFT has expanded its financial crime-fighting services while Broadridge Financial Services has just completed a key blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot — news that broke at SWIFT’s SIBOS industry conference in Toronto this week. In an effort to help small financial services firms and institutions fight financial crime in emerging markets, SWIFT is launching a… Read More >>
