Financial crimes

The $85 million penalty and the bank's "needs to improve" rating on its Community Reinvestment Act exam were tied to alleged violations of the Military Lending Act and Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

CEO Charlie Scharf disappointed investors by failing to provide either a detailed road map for long-term expense reductions or say when he might release such a plan.

Better dialogue between banks and authorities coupled with stronger anti-money-laundering measures could help address the suspicious activity report flaws revealed by investigative journalists.

Examiners are skilled at spotting trouble but often do too little to correct it, as the latest revelations about Citi once again show. Prompt supervisory intervention is essential to protecting the integrity of the financial system.

The company posted a surprise increase in third-quarter expenses as it set aside almost $1 billion for customer remediation and $718 million in restructuring charges.

The control of crypto exchanges will resemble that of regular financial companies in Europe and the U.S., says Extante's Anatoliy Knyazev.

The combination can address the different threats posed by money muling, which is on the rise with more people at home, says FICO's TJ Horan.

House forgiveness plan for Paycheck Protection Program loans is better than nothing, bankers say; why some banks still lean on mainframes; what's next for Goldman Sachs's Marcus; and more from this week's most-read stories.

The bank contends that the misconduct wasn't widespread, but a whistleblower letter unearthed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau points to Chicago as a hotbed of customer abuse. "We are becoming a 'predatory' financial institution," the 2010 letter said.

Atlantic Community Bankers Bank must improve its anti-money- laundering and Bank Secrecy Act policies and procedures.