AML

Ameris Bancorp in Georgia wanted to buy a premium-finance business but settled for a joint venture, blessed by its regulators, after being flagged for insufficient Bank Secrecy Act compliance.

Following the passage of the November ballot initiative, it is hugely important that cannabis businesses in the nation's largest state be able to secure bank accounts, at a minimum.

WASHINGTON — Senate lawmakers are putting pressure on the Treasury Department's financial crimes unit to clarify to banks that businesses hired by marijuana growers and dispensers should not be treated like pot firms themselves.

Federal banking regulators are dismissing claims that they are pressuring banks to cut ties with payday lenders, arguing that the lenders' recent request for a court order against the agencies rests on erroneous speculation and bad legal arguments.

Despite gains for the legalization effort in the November election, the disconnect between federal and state law preserves uncertainty for banks catering to pot businesses.

A Republican president and GOP-controlled Congress have the opportunity to disentangle the current regulatory web that leads to overlapping jurisdiction and duplicative rules.

President-elect Trump faces legal questions over his idea to hold remittances ransom to fund a wall in Mexico, but the industry should take the threat seriously.

Despite a robust anti-money-laundering regime imposed on banks and money services businesses in the U.S., a number of loopholes are allowing other companies to skate by without performing basic due diligence to curb the flow of illicit funds, according to a report by the Financial Action Task Force.

The U.S. is expected to receive bad marks over its supervision of certain high-risk nonfinancial institutions, like lawyers, casinos and real estate agents, for potential anti-money-laundering problems in an upcoming evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network mismanaged its system for tracking enforcement cases, allowing some cases to expire before the agency had the chance to impose civil money penalties, according to a government watchdog.