Financial crimes

Cryptocurrency kiosks are increasingly suspected of being used in the smuggling of human beings and drugs. Law enforcement agencies need more information about their locations, according to a government watchdog report.

The Financial Conduct Authority has fined a U.K. unit of HSBC Holdings 64 million pounds ($85 million) after finding “serious weaknesses” in the automated processes it used to monitor suspicious transactions, the latest example of the watchdog’s increasingly assertive stance against the firms it regulates.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and six other large banks may have information about billions of dollars looted from Libya by its former dictator Moammar Al Qaddafi, the Libya government said in a subpoena application. 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed standards to determine which companies must report their beneficial owners under a law enacted in January. Banks hope the new requirements will free them of the burden of collecting true-owner information about their customers.

President Biden says his administration is focused on policing cryptocurrency crimes to combat corruption globally and is taking advantage of a newly formed Department of Justice task force, according to an anti-graft report released Monday.

The regulator has a policy that allows it to convert public enforcement actions into informal, nonpublic ones in cases where banks haven't fully met their obligations. Its inspector general says that the practice may give a false impression to customers and investors.

American Express said it discontinued a service known as Premium Wire and terminated some employees after workers inappropriately positioned the product to customers. 

Regulators are requiring an operational overhaul at The Federal Savings Bank. Its former CEO Stephen Calk, who sought a job in the Trump administration, was convicted in connection with loans the bank made to onetime Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.

The bank was fined $150 million for anti-money-laundering violations because it missed — or ignored — numerous red flags in its dealings with the convicted sex offender. Here's what it should have done differently.

A former Wells Fargo investment advisor stole nearly $3 million from clients and used the money for personal expenses and to buy gold coins, federal prosecutors said.