AML

WASHINGTON — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a requirement on Tuesday that could put bank compliance officers on the hook if a bank's anti-money-laundering system fails to meet state standards.

Services are cropping up that help banks analyze bitcoin transactions for signs of criminal behavior such as money laundering. But such services come with their own risks.

The Bank for International Settlements acknowledges that people may have legitimate reasons to prefer an anonymous payment system.

WASHINGTON — The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists said Tuesday that former Financial Action Task Force executive secretary Rick McDonell will be taking over as the trade association's executive director.

Commercial and retail banking customers in some cases are being marginalized from the financial system, making de-risking a pressing social-policy issue, a Bank of America official said at a Clearing House conference.

How could an agency most people outside of the U.S. have never heard of effectively shut down an overseas bank without much explanation or even a hearing?

Recent U.S. and U.K. assessments of anti-money-laundering and efforts to combat terrorism financing show how the two countries have structured respective approaches to pinpointing key risks.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina in Newton has been hit with an enforcement action related to its compliance with anti-money-laundering laws.

East West Bancorp has been placed under an enforcement action for anti-money-laundering compliance weaknesses, as it continues a plan to spend an estimated total of $12 million on program upgrades.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged three men in connection with the mass hack attack on JPMorgan Chase that took place in June 2014.

U.S. Bancorp has been hit with a consent order regarding deficiencies in its anti-money laundering compliance program.

The Treasury Department is still struggling to understand whether some businesses are losing access to the banking system because of heightened enforcement of anti-money laundering requirements and concerns about high risk activities, a top official said Wednesday.

A lack of access to financial services, particularly the inability to transfer funds overseas, can prevent lifesaving work from being carried out and has touched the refugee crisis in Europe, where many aid groups are delivering assistance.

The number of startup companies opting out of the State of New York — more than a dozen — since the financial services department's BitLicense regulation was finalized is troublesome.

There is a time, a place and a customer base for pseudonymous cryptocurrency. For regulated financial institutions, other types of shared ledgers — those whose validators are legally accountable for certain terms of service — may provide unique utility.

Banking regulators have been coy about whether they approve serving marijuana businesses, but lately one regional Fed bank has taken a strong position against the practice. But there are nearly three dozen Fed-supervised banks serving pot companies — one of many seeming inconsistencies in an opaque and confusing regulatory policy.

For "suspicious activity reports" to help combat crime, banks need to be able to disclose reports to their foreign branches and affiliates.

Led by a team of financial services and regulatory veterans and young techies, Privacy.com represents the first mainstream attempt to build a business explicitly around transactional privacy in the era of Edward Snowden and Ashley Madison.

Credit Agricole agreed to pay $787 million to U.S. regulators and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department to resolve allegations the French bank violated sanctions aimed at Iran and Sudan.

Even if Operation Choke Point officially ended, U.S. regulators have continued to apply the policy of threatening investigations and ruinous fines against banks that service "high-risk" customers in disfavored industries.