The Deutsche Bank has been operating bank accounts for a political party that reportedly supports PFLP, which both the US and the EU define as a terrorist organization. The Office of the New York State Comptroller on Friday opened an investigation into accounts Deutsche Bank holds for a German political party that allegedly provides organizational […]

On 15 June 2017, the International Securities Services Association (ISSA) published an updated version (dated May 2017) of its financial crime compliance principles for securities custody and settlement. The principles, which were first published in August 2015, are addressed to custodians and their institutional account holders (which are defined as the regulated financial institutions that […]

The FCA has published a high-level guide to financial crime for consumer credit firms. The guide includes examples of good and poor practice for firms under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and guidance on steps that firms can take to reduce financial crime risk. The guidance is arranged thematically, by reference to risk assessment, policies […]

The Financial Conduct Authority has today fined Barclays Bank £72m for failing to minimise the risk that it may be used to facilitate financial crime. The failings relate to a £1.88bn pound transaction that Barclays arranged and executed in 2011 and 2012 for a number of ultra-high-net-worth clients. The clients involved were politically exposed persons […]

As the world is uniting to tackle tax evasion and improve financial transparency, the US “threatens progress,” a new survey has said. America is now ranked third among the world’s most attractive “tax havens,” trailing only Switzerland and Hong Kong. The US has jumped from sixth place to third in the Financial Secrecy index, which […]

THE International Securities Services Association [ISSA] has released the document Financial Crime Compliance Principles for Securities Custody and Settlement «Background & Overview» which complements the Financial Crime Compliance Principles Background & Overview» http://bit.ly/1G1NWGI ISSA Financial Crime Compliance Principles for Securities Custody and Settlement = http://bit.ly/1Mm6WfA

AN INDEPENDENT external assessment of Guernsey’s systems for preventing financial crime is set to be discussed in Strasbourg today at the plenary meeting of MoneyVal. MoneyVal is a body of the Council of Europe tasked with assessing the effectiveness of measures in place to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Guernsey is one […]

Enforcement in the UK The UK’s now defunct Office of Fair Trading hit three real estate agents with a parting gift of fines for ‘significant and widespread failures’ in implementing the UK Money Laundering Regulations 2007. The firms dropped their guard in terms of customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring of business relationships, policies and procedures on record-keeping, […]