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Commerzbank in Hong Kong pays HK$6m for CDD and PEP screening failures
The Hong Kong branch of German lender Commerzbank must pay HK$6,000,000 (US$764,576) to the HK Monetary Authority (HKMA) for breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO) between 1 April 2012 and 30 June 2016.
Online Published Date:
02 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Politics, technology and STRs – new Egmont Group chair on today’s challenges for FIUs
Xolisile Khanyile, the director of South Africa’sFinancial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has been appointed chair of the Egmont Group (EG) of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), taking over from July [2022] for a two-year term. She replaces the Netherlands’ Hennie Verbeek-Kusters, who had served as chair since 2020.Ms Khanyile is a career prosecutor, having also served for five years as South Africa’sdirector of public prosecutions (DPP). She assumes office as the AML/CFT world struggles with the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the unprecedented sanctions that have followed this military aggression. Ms Khanyile will also have to continue dealing with the AML/CFT impact of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, FIUs are having to cope with the fast-changing world of virtual assets and the ongoing disruption resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. She explained to MLB in an exclusive interview how she plans to help the AML/CFT sector address this unprecedented set of challenges.
Online Published Date:
02 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Netherlands not tough enough on launderers, finds FATF
The Netherlands has only moderate effectiveness in its AML/CFT policies regarding supervision, preventative measures, legal persons controls and financial sanctions, according to the latest Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation report (MER).
Online Published Date:
02 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Spreadex fined UK£1.36m by Gambling Commission for AML and social responsibility breaches
Online gambling operator of spreadex.com, Spreadex Limited will pay UK£1.36m (US$1,593,410) after the UK regulator found it had contravened anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CFT) and social responsibility rules.
Online Published Date:
02 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Wise fined US$360,000 in UAE for CDD, risk assessment, account approval breaches
Payment services provider Wise has to pay US$360,000 after the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (FSRA) found it had breached obligations under the AML and Sanctions Rules and Guidance Rulebook between 25 July 2019 and 22 September 2021.
Online Published Date:
02 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Promising - the UK register of overseas entities
As of 1 August 2022, beneficial owners of overseas entities that purchase land or property in the UK must be identified by a verification agent, regulated under the Money Laundering Regulations. Transitional arrangements provide for checking beneficial ownership in the case of historic purchases. Intended to discourage criminal investment in land or property, John Binns of BCL Solicitors considers the interplay of the new obligations with existing registration and reporting duties, and whether ineffective implementation could prove counter-productive.
Online Published Date:
03 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
State of reform: US AMLA
Overhaul of the US AML regime to bring it more into line with international standards has been grinding on since passage of the enabling Anti-Money Laundering Act in early 2021. Keith Nuthall checks on progress in some key areas.
Online Published Date:
14 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Launderer linked to Kinahan clan arrested in Spain - Europol
Law enforcement must be confident they have their man: on 12 September Europol announced it had arrested "one of Europe's biggest money launderers", along with two associates, in Malaga, Spain.
Online Published Date:
15 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Danske Bank fined €1.82m in Ireland over exclusions from transaction monitoring
The Central Bank of Ireland imposed its first penalty on a foreign financial institution, on 13 September [2022], when it fined Danske Bank A/S €1,820,000 (US$1,813,408) for failing to monitor transactions by "certain categories [unspecified] of customers" at its Irish branch between 2010 and 2019.
Online Published Date:
16 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Disenable: now, hit the professionals
MLAAS - Money Laundering As A Service - must, logically, exist to layer in the billions and billions of, well, choose a currency, generated by criminal enterprise: who does it, how should they be stopped and why isn't that happening? Paul Cochranetalks to those with reason to know.
Online Published Date:
20 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Russian oligarchs using crypto to avoid sanctions
Russian oligarchs are increasingly using cryptocurrency to evade sanctions, according to a leading cybercrime investigation firm whose blockchain analysts have probed the financial interests of recently targeted Russian nationals.
Online Published Date:
21 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Betfred and Oddsking operator fined UK?2.9m for core AML failings
Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited has incurred a UK?2.87m (US$3,110,580) penalty from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), which found breaches of compliance with anti-money laundering and social responsibility obligations.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
298 - 01 November 2022
Cathay United Bank pays Hong Kong$11m for CDD and risk management failures
The Hong Kong branch of Cathay United Bank Limited (CUBHK) has been fined HK$11,000,000 (US$1,401,300) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) after an onsite inspection and further investigation discovered rule breaches around customer due diligence (CDD) and risk management between April 2012 and February 2016.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
298 - 01 November 2022
UK economic crime bill aims for company register integrity
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, introduced into Parliament on 22 September [2022], sets out UK Companies House reforms intended to improve the accuracy of registry data on UK-incorporated entities.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022
Deutsche Bank agrees to pay US$26.25m over alleged AML control misrepresentations and treatment of high-risk clients
German lender Deutsche Bank AG, on 23 September, agreed to a US$26.25 million settlement of a claim by shareholders, challenging the veracity of disclosures about its anti-money laundering and know your customer controls, and its handling of risky customers like convicted sex-offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, now deceased.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
298 - 01 November 2022
Unzer fined ?145,000 in Luxembourg for AML breaches
Payment services business Unzer Luxembourg S.A. must pay ?145,000 (US$138,700) after the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) found a series of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing failings during an onsite inspection across 2020 and 2021.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
298 - 01 November 2022
Credit Agricole subsidiaries pay US$1,121,297 over US sanctions violations
Two firms in France's Credit Agricole banking group have reached settlements with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over apparent breaches of US sanctions programmes.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
298 - 01 November 2022
A man of influence - interview with T Raja Kumar, FATF President [Video]
Singapore assumed the Financial Action Task Force presidency on 1 July this year. T Raja Kumar, drawing on decades of public service, including in law enforcement, is determined to drive forward the effectiveness agenda. Asset recovery - an improvement on the UN estimate of less than one percent of global illicit financial flows - is a key priority, he tells Keith Nuthall, cyber-enabled financial crime another, and that's all before consideration of virtual assets, Ukraine, Russia, and Afghanistan.
Online Published Date:
29 September 2022
Appeared in issue:
297 - 03 October 2022