Financial crimes

BofI Holding in San Diego is poised to end a tumultuous week, after a lawsuit accusing it of lax controls sent investors scurrying.

To identify fintech startups deserving of special recognition this year as part of the FinTech Forward program, a team of American Banker editors, BAI staff and industry members debated the merits of self-nominees and companies we know.

Outside experts have been left wondering what kinds of controls firms that offer daily fantasy sports contests are putting in place to prevent them from becoming money laundering hubs — and how careful banks should be when doing business with them.

Swift CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt talks about how the global messaging network is looking to stay relevant to its bank members; the potential and limitations of blockchain technology; and his views on the startups looking to disrupt banking.

The long-delayed approval of the merger of M&T and Hudson City should have been a bright spot in postcrisis M&A, but a small footnote from the Fed quickly reminded bankers that dealmaking will remain a demanding process.

A survey due to be released Wednesday reveals a wish list for anti-money-laundering specialists to help ease their process of assessing customer risk.

One of the top anti-money-laundering regulators warned credit unions Tuesday that many do not appear to be properly following reporting requirements.

The digital currency industry reacted warily to a model framework for regulating such firms released Tuesday by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, arguing the language is too vague and treats digital assets like normal money.

K2 Intelligence, an adviser on compliance and cybersecurity, has hired a former FBI cryptocurrency expert and a former regulator who worked on New York's digital currency regulations.

A foreign bank that sued the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network won a preliminary injunction suspending an action that would have cut off the bank's access to dollar funding.

The contradictory nature of data privacy and anti-money-laundering rules in the U.S. and E.U. pose a big challenge for multinational banks. But the financial sector can help fix the problem by establishing industry standards that balance national security with individual rights.

The largest bank in Tanzania has sued the U.S. Treasury Department to halt a rule that designates the bank as a "primary money laundering concern," which cuts off its access to dollar funding and may prove to be a death sentence for the institution.

Before it dissolves in late September, a bipartisan House task force should take a broader look at de-risking, changing technologies, cybersecurity and the private sector's role in deterring terrorism financing.

In his first interview since taking over HSBC's U.S. bank late last year, CEO Patrick Burke contends that the U.S. bank could prove to be HSBC's hidden gem provided it focuses on multinational corporate clients and cooperates better with its global affiliates.

SunTrust Banks participated in a drug sting in South Florida in which law enforcement officers and a former bank branch manager may have behaved improperly, according to a story in the Miami Herald.

Promontory Financial vowed to take the New York Department of Financial Services to court after it effectively banned the consulting firm from working on regulatory issues for banks the department supervises.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Citigroup let customers move illicit cash through its Mexico unit, setting the bank's biggest international operation in the path of an expanding money-laundering probe.

Connecting disparate payment platforms is the Holy Grail of cryptocurrencies. The path to building such a system is not always clear, but must start at the core of the protocol.

Discover Financial Services in Riverwoods, Ill., continued its run of quarterly profit declines in the second quarter, due primarily to higher costs for compliance, marketing and customer rewards.

Buyout heavyweight Accel-KKR just bought a stake in Banker's Toolbox, a software company that helps community banks flag fraud. The PE firm says it was on the hunt for investments in the compliance space given the regulatory climate.