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Kingdom Trust pays US$1.5m to FinCEN over SAR process failings
South Dakota-based Kingdom Trust Company, which primarily provides custody services, has agreed to a civil penalty of US$1.5 million after the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) discovered major defects in its management and filing of suspicious activity reports between 15 February 2016 and 15 March 2021.
Online Published Date:
02 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Threshold concepts in financial crime prevention
Threshold concepts, as transformative and challenging gateways to deeper understanding within a discipline, have gained increasing recognition across various fields of practice. However, their potential impact for financial crime remains underexplored. Mario Menz delves into the intriguing world of threshold concepts as they relate to financial crime prevention, exploring the pivotal ideas which induce paradigm shifts and lead to more sophisticated and effective strategies in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Online Published Date:
02 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Poloniex, crypto trading platform, pays US$7.6m over US sanctions violations
Delaware-registered Poloniex, LLC is to pay the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) US$7,591,630 for apparent violations of multiple US sanctions programmes between January 2014 and November 2019.
Online Published Date:
03 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Rebuild, better? EU AML reform - the trilogue phase
Five years on from the Danske Bank case, when up to €200 billion in suspicious transactions flowed through its Estonia branch, the European Union is embarked on final stage negotiations for extensive revision of the anti-money laundering regime that applies across the 27 member states. Much remains to be decided, Sara Lewis, in Brussels, finds.
Online Published Date:
09 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Ukraine-Russia conflict [26]: UK & EU sharpen sanctions
War in Ukraine grinds on: the UK and EU are both extending and refining their sanctions on Russia in response as Susannah Cogman and Elizabeth Head of Herbert Smith Freehills delineate.
Online Published Date:
10 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Tuning up - transaction monitoring system currency
Finance was always a data business and as transaction flows increase in volume and complexity so monitoring, in real-time or batch, must needs keep pace. Keith Nuthalllooks at how the regulated sector is speeding to comply.
Online Published Date:
11 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Balkan rebuild: AML in Montenegro
In 2015, Montenegro scored low with Moneyval but then embarked on a major overhaul of its anti-money laundering regime. Zlatko Čonkaš and Keith Nuthallreport on the how and a specific why.
Online Published Date:
12 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
Lit fuse - proliferation finance & compliance for containment
North Korea, already nuclear, is working on ever more powerful weapons; Iran remains set on acquiring the capability; and both may, with others, be building chemical and biological arsenals: the stakes could not be higher and so funds are on offer to match. The incentive to circumvent export controls and sanctions, often with state support, and the vast range of dual-use components in scope make, writes Paul Cochrane, for the most complex investigative and preventive threatscape.
Online Published Date:
17 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
304 - 01 June 2023
In from the cold - Iceland
Since a frosty Financial Action Task Force assessment in 2018, Iceland has worked hard to upgrade its AML/CFT regime, albeit was subject to increased monitoring across the year to October 2020. Enhanced oversight of non-financial businesses and professions and virtual asset service providers, a publicly beneficial ownership register for companies and another, central registry of bank accounts in the works have all contributed to a thaw in the evaluators' attitude, finds Keith Nuthall.
Online Published Date:
18 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
305 - 03 July 2023
G7 pledges more sanctions on Russia, circumvention controls and direct & indirect asset seizures
The G7 group of industrialised nations has promised to ramp up sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including additional efforts to prevent circumvention.
Online Published Date:
19 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
305 - 03 July 2023
Skill on Net Ltd fined UK£305,150 for gambling ML risk and control failings
Cyprus-based gaming operator Skill on Net Limited, which runs 50 websites, is to pay UK£305,150, and UK£9,079 towards investigation costs, over UK Gambling Commission findings of deficiencies in its anti-money laundering framework and protections for customers at risk of harm from their betting.
Online Published Date:
27 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
305 - 03 July 2023
Incoming tide - AI for AML
The next wave of IT development, already crashing in with artificial intelligence large language models like ChatGPT, and set for further tumult when propelled by quantum computing power, will bring sea change to the work of compliance teams. Andreia Nogueirachecks the latest technology forecast.
Online Published Date:
30 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
305 - 03 July 2023
Crown casinos reach draft Au$450m settlement for AML failings with AUSTRAC
Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth, casinos in the Crown Resorts group, have agreed with AUSTRAC, Australia's financial intelligence unit, to pay a Au$450m (US$292m) penalty over wide-ranging breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.
Online Published Date:
31 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
305 - 03 July 2023
You have three minutes - managing financial crime risks in committee settings
As the complexity of the regulated system grows, we often feel compelled to allow more time for discussions, debate and challenge. But is this really the best approach? Leveraging insights from behavioural economics, Mario Menz challenges this notion, arguing for a 'three-minute rule' to encourage clearer, more focused presentations, and ultimately, better risk management.
Online Published Date:
31 May 2023
Appeared in issue:
305 - 03 July 2023