The Federal Reserve Board took action to address consumer compliance breakdowns by Green Dot, fining the firm $44 million for numerous unfair and deceptive practices and a deficient consumer compliance risk management program. Green Dot violated consumer law in its marketing, selling, and servicing of prepaid debit card products, and Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Silvergate Capital, its former CEO Alan Lane, and former Chief Risk Officer Kathleen Fraher with misleading investors about the strength of the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance program and the monitoring of crypto customers, including FTX. The SEC also charged Silvergate and its Read More
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has agreed to pay $32 million in penalties pursuant to a Consent Order entered into with the NYDFS. The Consent Order settles the Department’s investigation into numerous Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering Read More
The effectiveness of sanctions screening and anti-money laundering (AML) programs have recently faced extraordinary challenges. The increasing reliance on digital technology, the war in Ukraine, a record surge in sanctions, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and the current economic environment have placed tremendous strain on already stretched compliance teams. Rapidly changing elements Read More
GUEST BLOG Effective due diligence is critical to establishing relationships with customers, suppliers, and other third-parties that drive strong revenue generation. How can businesses, including banks and finance companies, balance effective anti-money laundering (AML) efforts, know your customer (KYC) workflows, customer due diligence (CDD), and third-party risk rating workflows with Read More
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced in a final decision that it has “reluctantly” terminated its enforcement action against the former chief compliance officer of Rabobank N.A., the U.S.-based subsidiary of Netherlands-based Rabobank. As CCO, Laura Akahoshi was responsible for overseeing Rabobank’s Bank Secrecy Act and Read More
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a final rule implementing a beneficial ownership information reporting requirement. The final rule, which implements the registration and reporting requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), will require “tens of millions” of companies doing business in the United States to report information Read More
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has fined London-based Gatehouse Bank 1.58 million pounds ($1.8 million) for “significant weakness” in its financial crime systems and controls. According to the FCA’s Oct. 12 decision notice, between June 2014 and July 2017, Gatehouse “failed to conduct sufficient checks on its customers in countries Read More
The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) has fined Danske Bank 1.82 million euros (U.S.$1.82 million) for transaction monitoring failures relating to its anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policies, procedures, and controls. This is the first penalty the CBI has imposed on a financial institution that is incorporated and Read More
Tornado Cash has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) after the virtual currency mixer was “used to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019,” OFAC announced Aug. 8. Among the $7 billion in laundered Read More
