Momentum behind the EU’s anti-money laundering super authority (AMLA) is growing rapidly as it prepares to become operational by the start of 2024.
As regulators increase their scrutiny of fintechs, not only does this raise the risk of regulatory action and punitive fines, it can also lead to reputational damage and even prevent an otherwise promising early-stage business from fulfilling its potential.
The new US Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act is a transnational law that covers any organisation that deals in dollars and enables employees to report violations anonymously and confidentially. What’s more, they stand to receive between 10-30% of any sanction, fine, or penalty triggered by the disclosure, regardless of the size of the fine.
Thomson Reuters Institute and Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence have recently published a new white paper that examines how a range of factors are combining to present compliance professionals with yet another challenging year.
Following the conclusion of the FATF Plenary February 2023, below is a summary of the key outcomes.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, compliance has become increasingly complex as new rules flood in almost daily. In this blog we examine the errors, pitfalls, and challenges faced by businesses as they attempt to keep up with a constantly evolving landscape.
2022 proved to be an unprecedented year for AML-related scandals and fines. In this article we list the biggest fines, many of which involved some of the world’s leading financial institutions.
The United Kingdom has returned its worst ever position in the latest edition of Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), revealing that cracks are starting to appear in the country’s previously good standing.
We are pleased and proud to share with you some exciting and dynamic developments we have planned for the coming year.
As regulators step up their scrutiny of the Real Estate sector, it’s now imperative that every company identifies any potential gaps in their AML compliance framework.
As 2023 gets underway, we explore some of the most likely trends that compliance departments across a wide range of sectors will face over the coming year.
In this blog, we examine which businesses will be affected by the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (SCDDA) and what they need to do in order to comply with this far-reaching piece of legislation.
As increasingly large amounts of money flow through online casinos, digital sportsbooks, and similar services, it is time for Gaming and Gambling companies to recognise the threat of money laundering and take immediate action.
Recent years have seen the cost of compliance soar. It’s a trend which is expected to continue in 2023, leaving many compliance professionals searching for the answer to how they can meet mounting obligations in the face of even greater budgetary pressures.
As of 16 December 2022, the UK Government’s financial sanctions regime now includes a ban on providing trust services to those ‘connected with Russia’.
When presented with a new business opportunity, the findings point to an indifference by bank representatives to adhere to the international regulations, regardless of whether it constitutes a financial crime or sanctions violation.
By examining the causal effects behind seemingly unrelated events, every organisation can learn from mistakes in risk management in order to avoid potential disasters in the future.
In the latest in a flurry of regulatory moves, the European Banking Authority (EBA) has published new guidelines for preventing financial crime linked to the growing trend for remote customer onboarding.
With payments increasingly becoming available at the click of a button, money launderers are turning to online payments in order to wash their illicit funds. As a result, it has never been so important for PSPs to identify their AML vulnerabilities and mitigate the growing risk.
According to TrustQuay’s Future Focus Report 2023, the majority of TCSPs are still relying on outdated manual processes. This is despite citing their top three challenges as being regulatory burden, improving efficiencies/reducing costs, and improving data quality.
The recent prosecution of French cement company Lafarge should be a wake-up call for any organisation with a complacent attitude toward counter terrorist financing (CTF).
Customer and supplier onboarding is challenging at the best of times, but onboarding corporate, fund and trust entities is especially difficult due to the complex nature of underlying business structures.
Insurers are coming under increasing pressure from regulators to take all the steps necessary to ensure they don’t provide criminals with the means to launder illicit money.
The Swiss banking giant has a long history of making the news and mostly for the wrong reasons. This blog reviews the many scandals to have hit Credit Suisse over the last four decades, culminating in the latest revelations that have resulted in huge fines, the layoff of thousands of employees, and its stock to fall by 60%.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) claims that far too many banks’ anti-money laundering (AML) procedures are still failing due to poor know your customer (KYC) data and outdated manual processes
The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), held its latest plenary meeting this week, with delegates from over 200 jurisdictions attending. Below is a summary of the key outcomes.
As regulators increase their scrutiny of TCSPs not only does this raise the risk of punitive fines and reputational damage to the business, but directors and senior managers can be held personally liable for prosecution
According to the Basel AML Index 2022, progress in addressing global money laundering and terrorist financing risks remains paralysed and is now too important and complex for governments to tackle alone
In order to navigate and monitor increasingly complex, interconnected, and often opaque global business and financial transactions, these five steps will help you to more easily identify and mitigate the risks carried by PEPs
Experts have hailed the UK’s new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill as a potentially radical turning point in the fight against financial crime. But it will also add hugely to firms’ regulatory burdens, making digital compliance solutions even more essential.
In the face of an upsurge in regulations many crypto firms are attempting to avoid compliance. But as the world’s regulatory bodies continue to intensify their scrutiny of the sector, they will find it increasingly difficult to find a safe place to hide.
The reason why onboarding has so many rules and regulations, is because without strict know your customer (KYC) and customer due diligence (CDD) checks, financial criminals can operate with impunity. Which is exactly what they did before regulators stepped up the rules.
The financial industry is unfortunately blemished by dirty money circulating within the system. And while asset managers have traditionally swerved the money laundering impact faced by their banking counterparts, progressive capabilities from financial criminals are forcing the sector to notice glaring flaws in their AML processes.
With the luxury goods sector being targetted by criminal gangs using a variety of increasingly sophisticated methods, it is now crucial that businesses identify and plug any gaps in their compliance processes, or face the consequences.
Increasing regulatory scrutiny often results in businesses having to re-validate their existing customers. The subsequent remediation process can be an onerous task, but if carried out correctly it reduces risk and delivers a far better customer experience.
The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) review of financial crime controls at challenger banks concludes that new providers need to do far more to identify and manage the risks associated with financial crimes such as money laundering.
Industry bodies have repeatedly highlighted that many TCSPs are failing to manage the increasing risk of money laundering. As a result, calls are growing for a fundamental overhaul of the sector’s anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.
According to Thomson Reuters’ Cost of Compliance Report 2022, despite compliance’s widening duties budgets remain tight and staff numbers are unlikely to grow, resulting in a widespread belief that existing personnel will be expected to ‘do more with less’.
Many PSPs believe that the current international risk framework is inadequate and recognise the importance of implementing their own technological solutions to combat the threat of money laundering.
The need for improved compliance across the Real Estate sector is greater than ever due to its internationally recognised susceptibility. The starting point is to understand the gaps that financial criminals exploit.
When considering partnering with an onboarding tech provider, there are several key questions you should ask in order to guarantee they deliver the solution you need, and not just the solution they can provide.
Reduce compliance friction by automatically screening your leads and customers directly within the Salesforce CRM.
New EU legislation is set to crack down on the illicit use of crypto-assets while providing greater protection for law-abiding traders and investors.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is turbocharging its efforts to use technology to fight crime – and pressing companies to do the same.
Following the conclusion of the FATF Plenary June 2022 the key outcomes have now been published.
The popularity of online gaming and gambling services has seen a rise in flushed illicit money, as a result all companies in the sector need to tighten their compliance processes.
If a customer of a Jersey financial services business is found to have been “engaged in money laundering”, then the business can now also be found guilty of an offence.
Nearly three dozen gaming applications linked to the Iosif Galea leaked information scandal have been halted by the Malta Gaming Authority.
Dev Odedra takes a journey into the Metaverse to explore whether virtual financial and other crimes are set to become a reality.
Insurers are coming under pressure to take all the steps necessary to ensure they don’t provide criminals with the means to launder illicit money.
How should compliance professionals manage PEP risk in light of the Pandora Papers? Robert Mitchell at RiskScreen defines five stages that will help you to more easily identify and mitigate the risks carried by PEPs.
With the recent publication of the Wolfsberg Group’s FAQs on Negative News Screening, we examine some of the questions in more detail.
The importance of screening for adverse media cannot be underestimated as it provides a vital early warning monitoring system for potential risk.
Robert Mazur is one of the world’s leading authorities on money laundering techniques, internationally recognized as an expert by private and public sector leaders, and of course author of “The Betrayal”.
The Russia sanctions compliance emergency has brought into sharp focus the need to have the most accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date solutions for risk management and corporate governance.
Few observers believe that the bill will bring about the decisive, tangible change that will put an end to the UK’s role as the home to kleptocracy
Alexey Mordashov was a model of economic success in the post-Soviet era, rising from humble beginnings to become Russia’s wealthiest oligarch with a net worth believed to be more than $28 billion. Then the sanctions began…
The Pandora Papers provide an unequalled perspective on how money and power are used to hide the assets of PEPs and Foreign Public Officials.
Preetam Kaushik examines the island nation’s history as a tax haven, against the backdrop of its unique status as a sovereign country, yet still constitutionally part of the UK.
In the most recent episode of the AML Talk Show, host Stephen Platt was joined by Jonathan Benton, CEO of Intelligent Sanctuary.
If the proposed FPEC law becomes a reality it would mark a radical expansion of corporate criminal liability.
Preetam Kaushik takes a long hard look at whether cryptocurrencies, cryptoassets, and other virtual platforms will provide oligarchs with the means to circumvent sanctions
Nick St Clair and Preetam Kaushik discover that while sanctions are making it hard for Russian oligarchs to find safe havens for their assets, it would appear that greed has no bounds, nor boundaries for that matter
Compliance officers face challenging times as Russian sanctions grow, tougher laws loom, and campaigners demand immediate transparency
The latest guidance underlines the fact that financial sanctions regulations do not differentiate between cryptoassets and other forms of assets.
Ultimate responsibility for avoiding doing business with the wrong third party falls squarely on the shoulders of those of you entrusted with implementing the right policies and controls.
Dev Odedra illustrates how nuances can lead to ineffective handling of risks and potential sanctions violations.
Preetam Kaushik tracks the nation’s journey to shed its reputation as a jurisdiction vulnerable to money laundering risks.
As war rages in Ukraine, how should businesses react to the emergency in order to guarantee compliance and protect their reputation?
Preetam Kaushik investigates Mauritius’ history with money laundering and their AML framework.
We investigate the threat of money laundering in the EU’s 7th largest economy.
Tim Cooper investigates how compliance teams are adapting to the boom of alternative payments.
With a growing customer base comes a growing number of users, and that’s why we’ve invested in a cutting-edge Learning Management System (LMS) and launched the RiskScreen Learning Academy for our customers.
We trace this tiny island nation’s journey as it tries to improve its AML regime and bring it in line with global standards.
With EMI licences being dished out to companies whose executives or shareholders were linked to money laundering scandals in Eastern Europe, concerns have been growing over the regulations of this highly innovative market.
With FATF admitting de-risking and financial exclusion remained a challenge for many sectors just last year, it’s clear the practice still poses a challenge across the globe.
Seychelles has a long history intertwined with corruption. However, despite another scandal breaking earlier this year, not all hope is lost as the nation pushes to move on from its troubled past.
Is the Financial Conduct Authority about to up the ante on its approach to tackling money laundering? David Prosser investigates the potential ramifications from the historic NatWest case.
We’re thrilled to announce our latest partnership with Sayari, the world’s largest database of companies, their key people, and their most important relationships.
Malta’s inclusion on the ‘grey list’ of countries with anti-money laundering (AML) deficiencies is a stark warning for other countries and offshore centres, say experts.
With the UAE potentially looking at being grey listed by FATF, the country’s fight against its biggest money laundering problem has come back into the spotlight – gold smuggling. Preetam Kaushik investigates.
Despite being a financial powerhouse in the Middle East, the UAE could end up on FATF’s grey list. With a decision looming on the horizon, David Prosser investigates the impact being ‘grey listed’ could have on the country.
The second in our series of blogs on how to achieve a risk-based approach to effective customer screening in AML & KYC compliance.
After a series of financial crime scandals and with a FATF test due in Q2 this year, the British Virgin Islands is pushing to improve its compliance regime. Tim Cooper investigates.
Australia has always had a problem with its gambling industry and 2021 has proved no different.
Amber Rudd vowed to “stem the flow of dirty money” into London over five years ago but the city remains steeped in financial crime. David Prosser investigates why the UK is faltering behind the rest of the world.
In a follow up to our recent post on Luxury Goods and Financial Crime, Dev Odedra takes a deeper look at how luxury goods still change hands in various countries despite sanctions being in place.
Stephen Platt interviews Mike Parker, Former US Federal Prosecutor and Money Laundering & Economic Sanctions Expert on the latest episode of the AML Talk Show.
Money laundering is often a sophisticated crime but it may also rely on much a simpler technique – money mules.
Beyond simply buying luxury goods with money generated from crime, what’s often overlooked is how these goods intersect and even facilitate financial crime.
A recent UK Treasury Department report highlights that at least 12% of professionals supervised by AML authorities are at risk of non-compliance.
The UK’s Payment Services Regulator (PSR) recently refused to name banks that have received the highest volume of fraudulent funds, after recent adoption of the new ‘confirmation of payee system’.
UK trade finance firms are failing to assess their financial crime risks adequately, according to regulators.
What is Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) and why does it matter for effective KYC compliance? We take a deep dive into the impact of the Pandora Papers and the subsequent FATF recommendations.
RiskScreen CEO and founder Stephen Platt interviews Major Andrew Fox on the latest episode of the AML Talk Show.
The first in a series of blogs on how to achieve a risk-based approach to effective customer screening in AML & KYC compliance.
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