Financial crimes

Switzerland on Wednesday proposed tougher AML rules as U.S. officials ramp up their critique of what they say is weak sanctions enforcement.

House Republicans' accusation that government agencies are being weaponized against political conservatives underlines a longstanding challenge for banks: Balancing customers' data privacy and stopping financial crime.

Front-running schemes by the bank's foreign exchange desk defrauded clients of millions of dollars. In 2017, the Federal Reserve cited the lackluster oversight for failing to stop it.

Roughly 55% of people sentenced for embezzling funds from 2007 to 2017 were women, according to new research. Some experts suggest women are more likely to hold accounting and money-handling jobs, while others say the trend is a reflection of biases by employers and law enforcement.

The subpoena is part of a growing Republican narrative that Democrats have weaponized the Federal Bureau of Investigation against conservatives.

UBS Group AG agreed to pay $1.44 billion to settle a case with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding how it handled residential mortgage-backed securities. 

Incidents have increased by five times on a quarter-to-quarter basis, starting with the shift in deposit relationships after Silicon Valley Bank failed, CertifID said.

U.S. financial institutions should look to the U.K. for tips on fighting real-time payments fraud.

Gacki, who has served since 2019 as director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, will replace acting Fincen Director Himamauli Das. Her appointment comes as the Biden administration seeks to enforce sanctions against Russia and implement rules aimed at identifying undisclosed shell company owners.

The German bank's New York branch was entangled with U.S. regulators and law enforcement agencies for more than a decade in connection with money laundering and sanctions violations.

Brijesh Goel was convicted Wednesday of tipping off former Barclays Plc trader Akshay Niranjan about deals at Goldman.

Louisiana Credit Union League names new CEO, scammer who helped criminals pose as bankers jailed for 13 years, Jack Dorsey leads funding round for bitcoin voucher company and more in this week's banking news roundup.

The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said it is looking into the feasibility of verifying entries in a forthcoming beneficial ownership database, but may be limited by legal and cost considerations.

Nexway, based in France, allegedly processed payments in its own name on behalf of a tech support scam and telemarketing company from 2016 to 2020.

The bank's decision to allow former boss Jes Staley to leave on good terms is under fresh scrutiny as several U.S. legal cases reveal new details of his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.

Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of retail banking at the scandal-plagued bank, faces 16 months in prison after agreeing to plead guilty to obstructing a bank examination. The plea agreement serves as a warning to senior bank executives who regularly provide information to regulators.

Properly executed, the new anti-money-laundering program has the potential to cripple laundering networks by altering the landscape for financial services professionals.

Tolstedt, a key figure in the bank's fake-accounts scandal, could face prison time after pleading guilty to a criminal charge of obstructing a bank examination. She also agreed to pay a $17 million fine to bank regulators to resolve certain civil charges.

The only way for Fincen to assure that banks have the tools to identify illicit shell companies is for the agency to verify the information in its new beneficial ownership database.