Disruption in the Financial Industry Technology has always had the ability to generate hype and excitement. In addition, to the rising cost of risk and compliance executives are battling to drive more business value from these...

Why the Carbanak Campaign and the Bangladesh Bank attacks are a wake-up call for every AML compliance program. Someone once asked me how long will criminals continue to find new ways to circumvent money laundering laws. My reply was simple, so long as crime is...

The members of the United Nations Security Council hear terrible stories from conflict zones with alarming frequency. So it takes a truly horrific tale to bring them to tears. Yet as officials in the Council listened in December to Nadia Murad Basee Taha bravely...

Tighter U.S. CDD requirements and what they mean for foreign banks…Deadline to Comply is MAY 2018 In the aftermath of the Panama Papers controversy, governments have been discussing ways to promote more financial transparency. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network...

The internet has opened the door to purchase anything, I do mean anything, from any part of the world. These items can be paid for instantly through electronic payments. These transfers can be made from everywhere with ease and speed allowing greater anonymity if...

A recently-issued ruling by a South Florida judge that Bitcoin is not money, but equates more to property, has law enforcement puzzled, they feel the legal ramifications of this ruling could make it much more difficult to bring charges against future money laundering...

A suspicious matter report (SMR) was the catalyst for a law enforcement operation which resulted in the arrest of three foreign nationals. The operation revealed a multi-million dollar money laundering syndicate which was laundering illicit proceeds derived from...

On 5 July 2016, the European Commission (the “Commission”), adopted proposals to further reinforce EU rules on anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and increase transparency of ownership for both companies and trusts. According to the Commission, this...

"In the wake of the Panama Papers controversy, the U.S. government has taken major steps this month to promote financial transparency. First, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) finalized its proposed rule issued in July 2014 (see client alert, “FinCEN...

The UK has voted to leave the EU. It may be that the UK – with other non EU countries, such as Guernsey – will decide to keep the provisions of MLD4.  Or it may be that it will decide on different legislation. I could imagine execution of the beneficial ownership...

"People who own patents in India are suddenly in demand - in many cases not because of the value of their inventions that may be worthless, but as a conduit to launder money. There have been many cases in recent months where patent owners made millions by selling...

"Cash intensive businesses are the primary target of money launderers from all over the world. Legislators, consequently, understood the importance of assessing an activity’s beneficial ownership and took appropriate steps (e.g. EU AML Directive of 2015)....

"Anti-money laundering and anti-bribery are two sides of the same coin. This general rule is particularly important in the financial sector, which, given the nature of the business, is especially exposed to financial crimes. In fact, these institutions deal with...

Users can now compete against other players to win real money and prove to friends that they know sports better. In a digital world where everything is becoming social winning can be more about pride than money for many. However, there are those that will see Daily...

"Great article, worth a read just to realise the methods used by these PEP to launder money. "it is almost futile to look at PEP transactions and banking as isolated events without specialist knowledge of the Indian politico-business and family alliances landscape...

The financial services industry worldwide is challenged to respond to increased and a changing regulatory AML landscape. AML as a standalone entity under compliance, to a complex and much broader function cutting across many entities as legal, risk, operations, sales...

"The term “follow the money” was made famous during Watergate and is paradigm for many AML/CTF laws that require financial institutions and others such as the remittance industry to apply know your customer rules to the onboarding of new customers, establish a...

Iran a country of 80 million people generates a $400 billion economy, boasts the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves, the second-biggest stores of natural gas, and has well-established manufacturing and agricultural industries. Iran would get access to more than $100...

  "Canada’s top banking regulator has found money-laundering controls at the country’s banks failed on numerous occasions, according to a document obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Between 2009 and 2014, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial...