- Home/Publications/Money Laundering Bulletin
On the edge - IT advances
AML technologists are now looking to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle, inter alia, tracing the finances of criminal networks, to spot trade-based money laundering and detect deepfaked biometrics. Paul Cochrane checks on progress.
Online Published Date:
02 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
Tioga-Franklin Savings Bank agrees to thorough review of AML and OFAC compliance
Under a consent order, signed with the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Board of Philadelphia-based Tioga-Franklin Savings Bank has agreed to ensure that its anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CFT) program and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance are properly designed and effective.
Online Published Date:
03 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
FinCrime Curator - June 2024
Sunnier, longer days mid-year - at least in the northern hemisphere - may just afford more opportunity to catch up on a rich selection of podcasts delving into grift, graft, fraud and how and where illicit funds flow.
Online Published Date:
04 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
StanChart US sanctions failings disinterred by whistleblower lawsuit
A US court filing, on 31 May, alleges that Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) facilitated transactions for banks and other sanctioned entities in Iran, some linked to terrorist organisations, after it said it would cease doing business with customers in the country in 2007.
Online Published Date:
04 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
SkyCity pays A$67m in Australia for AML breaches "over many years"
Casino operator SkyCity Adelaide Pty Ltd (SCA) has been ordered to pay a A$67m (US$44m) fine for long-term contravention of Australia's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).
Online Published Date:
07 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
UBS fined CHF50,000 in Switzerland for PEP transaction reporting failures
UBS was ordered by Swiss authorities, on 4 April, to pay a CHF50,000 (US$55,735) penalty for not filing suspicious activity reports (SARs) on transactions linked to accounts it operated for Ali Abdullah Saleh, the ex-president of Yemen, and connected persons; he was assassinated in 2017. His relationship with UBS dated from 2004.
Online Published Date:
10 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
Evolve Bank & Trust to refit BSA/AML & OFAC programs under cease and desist order
Arkansas, USA-based Evolve Bank & Trust and holding company Evolve Bancorp will engage in a root and branch rebuild of its US Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) compliance frameworks in line with a cease and desist order, signed, on 11 June, with the Federal Reserve Board and the Arkansas State Bank Department.
Online Published Date:
15 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
315 - 01 July 2024
Overview - regulator alignment in EU & UK
Unequal treatment, gaps, inconsistencies in regulation - all make for frustration amongst entities covered by anti-money laundering (and opportunity for criminals). The European Union has responded with a new super-supervisor and the UK has already gone part of the way - Keith Nuthallconsiders their prospects.
Online Published Date:
18 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
Credit Suisse continues BSA/AML remediation after switch to OCC supervision
The New York branch of Credit Suisse will pursue work on repairing its Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance failures, as originally agreed on 22 December 2020 with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the New York State Department of Financial Services, following its transfer to oversight by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on 28 May 2024.
Online Published Date:
18 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
HSBC Private Bank barred from new PEP business in Switzerland
FINMA, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, has ordered HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA not to take on any new politically exposed persons (PEPs) as clients until it has corrected anti-money laundering compliance failings identified in the handling of two past PEP business relationships.
Online Published Date:
18 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
Singapore sting - control reset
The break-up of a Chinese criminal network, in August 2023, that laundered billions of dollars in Singapore has prompted its government to look hard at domestic law and enforcement, with inevitable consequences for obliged entities. Jens Kastner examines the fallout.
Online Published Date:
21 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
Court of Appeal finds payment obligations under letters of credit suspended by UK Russian sanctions regime
The Court of Appeal has handed down its much-anticipated decision in Celestial Aviation Services Ltd v UniCredit Bank AG (London Branch) [2024] EWCA Civ 628, holding that UniCredit Bank AG was excused from making payment under various letters of credit that it had issued in connection with the supply of aircraft to Russian airlines, by virtue of the UK sanctions regime. Susannah Cogman, Rupert Lewis and Ajay Malhotra of Herbert Smith Freehills study the ruling and consider its implications.
Online Published Date:
21 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
EU Russia sanctions target North Korean and other military supply shippers
A company helping ship military supplies from North Korea into Russia has been sanctioned by the European Union (EU), after Moscow signed a defence deal with the one-party state subject to the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) harshest restrictions.
Online Published Date:
25 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
UK Court of Appeal clarifies key proceeds of crime points in decision that police misapplied law
The Court of Appeal, on 27 June [2024], ruled that the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) had misconstrued the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) when it decided, entirely within its discretion, not to open a criminal investigation into money laundering in connection with the importation of cotton goods from Xinjiang, China, which the World Uyghur Congress claimed were made by forced labour.
Online Published Date:
28 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
Raiffeisen fined €2m in Austria over flawed AML on correspondent banks
Austria's Financial Market Authority has imposed a record €2 million (US$2.14 million) penalty on Raiffeisen Bank International for anti-money laundering failings in two of its correspondent banking relationships, according to Reuters.
Online Published Date:
28 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
FATF looks to new priorities as Mexico takes on presidency
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has approved priorities for the upcoming Mexican presidency of the global AML/CFT body, from 1 July [2024] to June 2026, including launching the fifth round of mutual evaluations.
Online Published Date:
28 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
Trio of US banks enter AML/CFT revision consent orders with FDIC
Thread Bank and TN Bank, both of Tennessee, and California Business Bank have signed consent orders with the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), all dated in May 2024, published in June, in which they undertake to rework their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing controls to meet Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements.
Online Published Date:
29 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024
FinCEN proposes rule to reinforce US financial institution AML/CFT programs
US financial institutions, covered by the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), would be required to allocate and calibrate their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CFT) resources to best effect based on periodic risk assessments they conducted, under a proposed rule FinCEN published on 28 June.
Online Published Date:
29 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
316 - 02 September 2024