CySEC reacheds a €50K setttlement with Freedom Finance Europe for possible AML violations LeapRate

July 14, 2023 BY Steffy Bogdanova

CySEC reacheds a €50K setttlement with Freedom Finance Europe for possible AML violations

CySEC assessed Freedom Finance Europe’s compliance during that period regarding procedures for client identification, due diligence. Furthermore, the financial markets regulator looked closely at the implementation of appropriate policies and controls for the detailed examination of each transaction and specifically particularly complex unusually large transaction or atypical patterns. The Cyprus watchdog announced that the company…

January 10, 2023 BY Steffy Bogdanova

FCA fines Guaranty Trust Bank (UK) £7.6 million for AML failures

In the beginning of 2018, GT Bank stopped taking on new customers. Given the FCA’s concerns, the bank agreed to wider voluntary restrictions on business later the same year. These additional requirements remained in place until mid-2021. They were lifted then GT Bank remediation plan, which was checked by an independent third party. The FCA…

December 09, 2022 BY Steffy Bogdanova

FCA fines Santander UK £107.7 million for recurrent anti-money laundering lapses

Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: Santander’s poor management of their anti-money laundering systems and their inadequate attempts to address the problems created a prolonged and severe risk of money laundering and financial crime. As part of our commitment to prevent and reduce financial crime, we continue to…

February 14, 2022 BY Steffy Bogdanova

Former Interactive Brokers AML compliance officer gets fined by FINRA

The regulator also alleges that Feist failed to get to know and understand Interactive Broker’s AML program and did not even supervise the company’s AML analysts. FINRA highlighted: While he was AMLCO, Feist learned about, but failed to recognize the import of, facts that should have alerted him that Interactive Brokers' AML program was not…

December 14, 2021 BY Steffy Bogdanova

NatWest gets a £264.8 million fine for AML compliance failures

Some of NatWest’s employees who handled these cash deposits shared their suspicions with the bank’s investigative staff but no action was taken. The warning signs included large amounts of Scottish bank notes deposited throughout England, as well as deposits of notes carrying a noticeable musty smell and individuals acting suspiciously when depositing the cash. Moreover,…

April 22, 2021 BY Steffy Bogdanova

CySEC identifies AML/CFT risk assessment lapses in regulated firms

The circular said: On a number of occasions, it was observed that the AML/CFT risk assessments were not reviewed to evaluate whether they needed adjustment upon subsequent changes of the customers’ risk profiles. As a result, the assessment of the customers’ ML/TF risks was not up to date and therefore CDD and ongoing monitoring was…

September 24, 2020 BY Steffy Bogdanova

Westpac to pay $1.3 billion fine to settle money laundering charges with AUSTRAC

Rose continued: Westpac’s failure to implement effective transaction monitoring programs, and its failure to submit IFTI reports to AUSTRAC and apply enhanced customer due diligence in relation to suspicious transactions, meant AUSTRAC and law enforcement were missing critical intelligence to support police investigations. In the original statements against Westpac, the Australian watchdog AUSTRAC identified a…

June 23, 2020 BY Steffy Bogdanova

New Zealand FMA files proceedings against CLSAP NZ for anti-money laundering breaches

The FMA has filed action against the company in High Court at Auckland and is seeking monetary penalty. Nick Kynoch, FMA General Counsel, said: The anti-money laundering legislation is a cornerstone to protecting the integrity of New Zealand’s financial system and it’s imperative that financial services firms ensure they are compliant. The regime has been…

May 13, 2020 BY Steffy Bogdanova

European Commission announces a plan to fix flaws in AML and CTF rules

The new plan will disrupt the current model of supervision, where member state monitors the implementation of EU rules individually. During the first quarter of next year, the EC will propose setting up an EU-level supervisor fix the weaknesses in a loopholes in the current model. The EC calls for the European Banking Authority (EBA)…

February 27, 2020 BY Steffy Bogdanova

Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi to consider crypto regulations aligning with FAFT

Financial secretary of Hong Kong Paul Chan, announced yesterday in his annual budget speech that he is considering changes of the regulation in the cryptocurrency sector to strengthen the anti-money-laundering (AML) norms and counter-terrorist-financing (CTF) policies. Financial Secretary Chan indicated in his speech that he was following recommendations form global financial regulator, Financial Action Task…

Tag: AML