Financial crimes

In a political season teeming with tension around income inequality, racial economic disparities and animus toward the banking industry, reforming the Community Reinvestment Act seems like it should be a cornerstone of the debate. Yet the law has been almost entirely absent from the discussion. Here's why.

Four years after the first states legalized marijuana, most bankers still want nothing to do with it.

As banks pull out of developing countries, we must seek a healthier balance between preventing money laundering and maintaining banking systems of entire regions.

Millennium Bank is said to have been the target of an enforcement action related to its work with the pot industry. The episode shows why many banks remain reluctant to serve the fast-growing cannabis industry.

Offering a new product or considering a merger may boost returns, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says changes in strategy can be risky.

The scheme is used by borrowers who don't have enough income to qualify for a regular mortgage, so they apply for a higher-rate non-owner-occupied loan.

After the departure of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's director last month, the future of the Treasury Department unit remains the subject of fierce speculation within the financial services industry.

WASHINGTON — Marijuana businesses and banks looking to open their doors to the potentially lucrative clients suffered a blow Wednesday after House Republicans blocked an amendment that would have prevented federal regulators from pursuing enforcement actions against banks dealing with the businesses in states with legalized pot.

WASHINGTON — Banks in states with legal marijuana businesses may warm up to them as customers if an amendment to a Senate appropriations bill becomes law.

The Federal Reserve Board is getting an earful from critics within and without the financial industry over its proposal to limit banks' credit exposures to a single entity.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network violated the U.S. Constitution by singling out a Tanzanian bank as a money-laundering concern without due process, the bank claimed late last week.

The compliance technology company Trace International has launched what it bills as the first global, commercial beneficial ownership registry.

In her final congressional appearance before she leaves her job at the end of this week, Fincen Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery also advocated for passage of new anti-money-laundering laws being pushed by the Obama administration.

The banking industry has influenced several key features in the final beneficial ownership rule, a top official at the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said this week, while defending the rule's effectiveness.

Biscayne Bank in Miami, a community bank that focuses on serving high-net-worth individuals from the Caribbean and Latin America, has been named as an intermediary in the Panama Papers leak.

A long-awaited final rule published this week that requires banks to keep better track of the owners of companies with accounts at their institutions is too little, too late in combating money laundering and terrorism financing, according to financial crime specialists.

Advocates for the marijuana industry fanned out across Capitol Hill on Thursday, urging lawmakers to make it easier for pot businesses to be bank customers.

It is imperative for regulators and lawmakers to approach the online small business loan market with care and an understanding of how these lenders expand access to credit.

Along with publishing the long-awaited beneficial ownership rule, the Treasury and Justice Departments urged Congress to pass legislation to put the U.S. on par with foreign partners in the fight to curb the flow of illicit funds.

Requirements that banks share anti-money-laundering information should extend to fraud and cyber risks, to connect the dots between bad actors and their transfer of money.