But reports of ‘brain drain’ plague agencies investigating financial crimes under new law Police in Hong Kong received 33,000 reports of suspicious financial transactions last year – a 12-year high and a 40 per cent rise from 2012 – after Hong Kong tightened its money-laundering laws. Police have initiated more… – Continue reading
Banking regulations in Caribbean nations are more robust than those in countries that are critical of the region’s financial sector, Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie said Monday in Nassau. In an address to open the third Caribbean Conference on the International Financial Services Sector, Christie blasted those who seem to… – Continue reading
Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) compliance, and in particular anti-money laundering (“AML”) controls, remains a focus of regulators as evidenced by record fines levied in recent weeks. On February 7, 2014, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) suspended a former AML compliance officer at Brown Brothers Harriman (“BBH”) and assessed… – Continue reading
Liechtenstein, one of the world’s most uber secretive tax havens, has joined Switzerland in freezing the assets of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich’s administration. An unnamed senior Liechtenstein government source told Reuters that Liechtenstein was freezing the assets of former party officials in the Ukrainian administration after other jurisdictions launched… – Continue reading
The European Commission is currently analysing how Gibraltar and Spain will implement recommendations made by its experts who visited the border last year. Both the Gibraltar Government and the Spanish Government have submitted detailed documents to the Commission – the former via the office of the UK permanent representative in… – Continue reading
One in three senior bank executives believes their institution has poor anti-money laundering controls at a time when the threat of vast regulatory fines and criminal prosecutions is increasing, according to a KPMG survey. The annual survey, which quizzed 317 anti-money laundering and compliance professionals in banks and financial institutions across 48… – Continue reading
On 20 November, 2013 the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) issued a public statement identifying jurisdictions in the Caribbean Basin region with strategic anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies that have not made sufficient progress in addressing such deficiencies. Those jurisdictions are identified as Belize… – Continue reading
