Record $386 Million Fine Given to Swedbank for AML Compliance Program Failures

Last week, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) handed out a record fine of 4 billion crowns to Sweden's oldest retail bank. The FSA claims that Swedbank had some serious deficiencies in their anti money laundering (AML) procedures and withheld important information from the FSA. An effective AML compliance program…

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Cryptocurrency Laundering: Two Charged with Helping North Korea Launder Almost $100 Million

Early this month, the United States government charged two Chinese nationals claiming that the defendants helped North Korea launder almost $100 million worth of stolen digital assets. Cryptocurrency laundering has become a global problem since cryptocurrencies became common-use. These funds only represent a portion of those stolen in 2018 by…

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2020 U.S. National Strategy for Combating Terrorist Financing (CFT) and Other Illicit Financing Released

The U.S. Department of Treasury has issued the 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing. This strategy guides the public and private sectors in addressing current illicit finance challenges. Some of the key illicit finance threats identified include; drug trafficking, terrorist financing, organized crime, human trafficking, and…

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AML Compliance Challenges and Trends Identified by FinCEN

Jamal El-Hindi spoke at the 20th annual Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Financial Crimes Conference in New York earlier this month. El-Hindi is the FinCEN Deputy Director and covered some of the AML compliance challenges and trends. One of the focuses was on Section 314(b) information sharing, which permits financial institutions…

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International Entity, Halkbank, Ordered to Appear in U.S. Court

In October 2019, Halkbank was charged with money laundering, bank fraud, and sanctions offenses by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The state-owned Turkish bank is suspected of evading Iran sanctions restrictions enforced by the U.S. in a multibillion-dollar scheme. The court issued a summons directing…

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Truth Technologies in the History of KYC, Know Your Customer: what comes first KYC or KYB, Know Your Banker (2)?

When in 1995 Truth Technologies was born, it was with a vision of future regulatory needs, based on past events. And those events triggered the ever-greater demand by banks in the US for KYC regulations. Regulators would sanction financial institutions for wrongdoings. However, without Know Your Customer regulations bankers were arguing…

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In 2019 Regulators Enforced Over $8 Billion in Anti-Money Laundering Penalties

It seems that every year, more anti-money laundering penalties are handed down by regulators. However it may seem, the numbers prove that regulators almost doubled the value amount of penalties being handed out from 2018 to 2019. In 2018, 29 fines valued at $4.27 billion were handed out.  Last year,…

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International AML Investigation Successful with £215m Money Laundering Operation Uncovered

Last week, 7 individuals were arrested from the result of a anti-money laundering (AML) investigation in Northern Ireland. This international AML investigation involved Europol, Interpol, the Republic of Ireland, and Great Britain and culminated in eight searches performed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. This was the second biggest…

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The Importance of Politically Exposed Person Screening Evidenced in Luanda Leaks

The richest woman in Africa, Isabel dos Santos, has come under a lot of scrutiny lately. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has been reporting on leaked documents that suggest that dos Santos' companies have been committing some serious financial crime. Anyone with political influence is considered to be at…

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