AML

Since the pandemic, financial scams have surged dramatically. The solutions to rampant fraud are clear; what's missing is the urgency.

Vulnerabilities related to environmental, social and governance issues have become a serious threat vector when it comes to money laundering. Banks must recognize the danger and adapt their systems accordingly.

At TD Bank and some other financial institutions accused of aiding and abetting money laundering, AML and branch employees have colluded and even joked about it in instant messages. Technology is part of the answer to detecting and preventing this.

The tiny community bank handled hundreds of millions of bulk cash shipments from Mexico without red-flagging any of them, the agency said. The bank has filed a motion to dismiss.

TD Bank Group's money-laundering-related crimes have sparked questions of how banks should be penalized for moving dirty money. CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said the FDIC should do more.

Members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors Tuesday debated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra's proposal limiting capital distributions system-wide during times of stress, as well as penalties for institutions caught engaging in money laundering.

A federal judge in Texas has blocked the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act, a key U.S. anti-money-laundering law that would require companies to report ownership details by January.

Small Business Bank in Lennox, Kansas received another cease-and-desist order from the Federal Reserve for failing to comply with anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act requirements for the second time in 14 months.

In its semiannual supervision and regulation report, the Federal Reserve flagged climbing loan delinquencies and a rising number of large bank citations for governance and controls.

The bank's U.S. operations will be closely monitored during a yearslong probationary period, during which any sign of backsliding could trigger swift punitive action.

Daria Sewell pleaded not guilty to possessing customers' personally identifiable information. The case adds to the Canadian bank's anti-money-laundering woes.

An uptick in fines associated with anti-money-laundering failures demonstrates that U.S. banks still have much work to do in terms of optimizing their internal systems to identify and stop the flow of dirty money.

The megabank disclosed that regulators are looking at its anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance. Wells Fargo was recently hit with an enforcement action over similar matters.

TD Bank's guilty plea to extensive money-laundering charges last week did not include any criminal charges against individual bank executives. That absence has critics fuming, but experts say bringing charges against individuals isn't so easy.

For more than a decade, the bank allowed billions of dollars from illicit activities to flow through the U.S. financial system unchecked. Some are wondering why examiners didn't put a stop to it sooner.

Regulators' asset cap on TD Bank for money-laundering violations has cemented the enforcement tool as a supreme cudgel to rein in problem banks, while other tools devised in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis gather dust.

The Canadian bank is indefinitely prohibited from growing assets at its two U.S. subsidiaries as the result of a sweeping settlement over money-laundering violations. While only the second imposition of such a penalty ever, experts say it will not be the last.

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would expand access to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's beneficial ownership database. That would allow financial firms to cut off drug traffickers' financing.

New rules from Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network will mandate reporting for non-financed real estate transfers and expand anti-money-laundering requirements for investment advisors.