Financial crimes

An impasse over pandemic relief checks for Americans is holding up an override of President Trump's veto of a bill shifting beneficial-owner requirements from banks to their commercial clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last week accused Ripple of breaking securities laws, raising questions about the future of banks' ties with the company.

The Federal Reserve and the New York State Department of Financial Services have ordered the Swiss bank’s U.S. arm to improve oversight and better monitor the activities of its customers.

Congress’s passage of a measure requiring startup companies — instead of their banks — to identify true owners was arguably the industry’s biggest legislative achievement in 2020. Now the industry is urging lawmakers to revisit proposals that would ease other anti-money-laundering reporting requirements.

The bank's release from a five-year-old enforcement action would mark progress in CEO Charlie Scharf's efforts to resolve its sprawling regulatory problems. But 10 more consent orders, including an asset cap imposed by the Federal Reserve in 2018, remain in place.

The agency said it may exempt certain institutions from having to file suspicious activity reports if they have “innovative solutions intended to meet Bank Secrecy Act requirements more efficiently and effectively." But in those circumstances, law enforcement may still require SARs.

Manual transaction monitoring doesn't scale to the acceleration of online activity, leading to many potential false negatives, and reduced efficiencies as teams demand quick growth and analysts take time to train properly, says Acuant's Jose Caldera.

A co-founder of a cryptocurrency firm was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to tricking investors out of more than $25 million in an investment scam promoted with the help of celebrities including Floyd Mayweather and the musician DJ Khaled.

The defense spending bill includes language requiring businesses to report their owners to Fincen.

A defense spending package includes a measure requiring new businesses to report their beneficial owners directly to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shifting the burden away from banks.