U.S. warns banks it may revoke some money-laundering settlements

From Reuters –

“Some banks that have non-prosecution agreements over failures to police transactions for criminal activity could see those deals withdrawn and be forced to plead guilty, a U.S. Justice Department official said on Monday.

"The criminal division will not hesitate to tear up that agreement when that action is appropriate," Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell told an Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists conference.

The USA Patriot Act in 2001 tightened anti-money laundering laws in an effort to cut off terrorist financing. The Justice Department has since entered into non-prosecution agreements (NPAs) and deferred-prosecution agreements (DPAs) with financial institutions accused of anti-money laundering failures that allowed criminal activity to flourish.”

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German Bank will pay $1.45 Billion to settle Sanctions, Money Laundering Charges

From Forbes –

“The international dollars keep rolling in. Yet another bank has agreed to pay a fine in response to ongoing investigations into foreign accounts. Commerzbank AG, headquartered in Frankfurt, and its U.S. branch, Commerzbank AG New York Branch (called Commerz New York), have agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement which calls for, among other things, the payment of a $79 million fine within five days. That amount is said to be equal to twice the value of the transactions raised during the investigation and is “appropriate given the facts and circumstances” of the case. The bank further agrees that it will not use any part of the fine as a deduction or credit for federal, state, local, or foreign tax purposes. ‘

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British Regulators Fine Bank of Beirut $3.2 Million

From The New York Times –

"The Financial Conduct Authority of Britain said on Thursday that it had fined the Bank of Beirut and temporarily banned it from signing up new clients in high-risk locations after the lender misled regulators about efforts to prevent money laundering and other financial crimes.

The regulator said the Bank of Beirut repeatedly gave misleading information about the progress of efforts to address concerns about the lender’s financial crime identification systems and controls.

The bank, which operates in Australia, Britain, Cyprus, Germany, Lebanon and Oman, was fined 2.1 million pounds, or about $3.2 million, and was banned from acquiring new clients for 126 days in places considered to be at high risk for financial crime.

A former compliance officer at the bank and an internal auditor were also fined a combined £29,500, the regulator said."

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Terrorism, fines and money laundering: why banks say no to poor customers

From The Guardian –

“The tightening of international banking standards is making it difficult for low-income people in the global south to get access to banking services.

When people in developing countries don’t have access to a bank account, physical proximity to a bank is usually the first challenge that springs to mind, but sometimes the reason a person is unable to access a secure place to store their savings is as simple as them not having a piece of paper to prove who they are.

Banking regulations vary between countries, and some allow banks to set their own rules about what proof of identity they accept for new customers to make sure no one is excluded. In South Africa Standard Bank accepts a letter verifying a person’s address from a tribal chief for certain accounts, while Postbank offers a Mzansi account, which does not require any proof of address but only offers basic transactional services and has a balance limit of 25,000 South African Rand (£1,362).”

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The Silk Road trial - Bitcoin buccaneers

From The Economist –

“Most internet entrepreneurs dream of transforming an industry. On January 13th, one who may have done just that went on trial in federal court in Manhattan, accused of drug-trafficking, money-laundering and operating a criminal enterprise. Ross Ulbricht, a 30-year-old Texan physics graduate, is accused of being “Dread Pirate Roberts”, the founder and administrator of the Silk Road. This was the first website to make it possible to buy and sell illegal drugs online openly and with relative anonymity. His trial will raise questions not only about the extent and nature of cybercrime, but also about the limits of government snooping necessary to prevent it.”

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The Race to Build a Know-Your-Customer Registry

From American Banker  -

“The theory of multiple discovery holds that independent people tend to make the same breakthroughs almost simultaneously. Alexander Graham Bell is widely credited as the inventor of the telephone, but he was beaten to the punch years before by Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci and narrowly edged out another inventor, Elisha Gray, who went to the patent office on the same day in 1876. Three different doctors developed polio vaccines, and Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz separately drummed up calculus in the 17th century.

This phenomenon helps explain how the financial industry hive mind has landed on a common solution to the unwieldy process of vetting customers' identities. In an effort to help banks manage compliance with know-your-customer rules and other regulations, multiple organizations are launching centralized registries that store, authenticate and share corporate clients' information.”

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