Financial Action Task Force (FATF) | Page 2 of 6 | Money Laundering Watch
Subscribe to Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Posted in BSA AML Reform, Federal Reserve, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Money Transmitter, Record Keeping, Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), Travel Rule, Virtual Currency
Stated Concern is that Terrorism is Funded Primarily Through Small International Transfers
Proposed Change Would Expand BSA Definition of “Money” to Include Virtual Currency
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) and the Federal Reserve Board (“Board”) have requested comment on an important proposed new rule that would amend the “Recordkeeping Rule” and “Travel Rule” under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and expand them significantly. The proposed regulation would reduce the current $3,000 threshold to only $250 for international transfers, thereby substantially expanding the scope of these rules.
Even by FinCEN’s own estimates, the effect would be broad. According to FinCEN, the new regulation would affect an estimated 5,306 banks, 5,236 credit unions, and 12,692 money transmitters – including exchangers of digital assets, who arguably would be most impacted by the new regulation. Further, FinCEN estimates – likely conservatively – that compliance would require no less than 3.3 million additional hours, annually. FinCEN and the Board strongly suggest that such compliance burdens are worth the effort, given the perceived value to law enforcement in combatting terrorism, which tends to be funded by small international transfers.…
Continue Reading To Fight Terrorism, FinCEN and Federal Reserve Board Request Comment on Proposed Major Expansion of Recordkeeping and Travel Rules for International Transfers
By Izabella Babchinetskaya on October 21, 2020
Posted in COVID-19, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Human Trafficking, Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)
Continue Reading FinCEN Issues Advisory on Human Trafficking
Posted in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Basel AML Index, COVID-19, European Union, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Human Trafficking, Terrorism Financing
AML Standards May Exist in Theory, But Often are Not Enforced in Practice
Today we are very pleased to welcome, once again, guest bloggers Gretta Fenner and Dr. Kateryna Boguslavska of the Basel Institute on Governance (“Basel Institute”). The Basel Institute recently issued its Basel AML Index for 2020. Ms. Fenner and Dr. Boguslavska guest blogged for Money Laundering Watch last year on this data-rich and fascinating annual Index, which is one of several online tools developed by the Basel Institute to help both public- and private-sector practitioners tackle financial crime. The Index is a research-based ranking that assesses countries’ risk exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing.
This blog post again takes the form of a Q & A session, in which Ms. Fenner and Dr. Boguslavska respond to several questions posed by Money Laundering Watch about the Basel AML Index 2020. We hope you enjoy this discussion of global money laundering risks — which addresses AML standards vs. their actual implementation, human trafficking, AML vulnerabilities in the U.S., the effects of covid-19, and more. –Peter Hardy…
Continue Reading The Basel AML Index 2020: Across the Globe, Weak Oversight and Dormant Enforcement Systems. A Guest Blog.
FinCEN Director Blanco Urges Collaboration Across Virtual Currency Industry to Comply with Travel Rule
By Mary K. Treanor on May 21, 2020
Posted in Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), Virtual Currency
Kenneth Blanco, Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), recently provided remarks about FinCEN’s “Travel Rule” at the first truly-virtual Consensus Blockchain Conference. The Travel Rule, which became effective in 1996, requires money services businesses (“MSBs”) – including cryptocurrency exchanges – to maintain identifying information on all parties in fund transfers of over $3,000 between financial institutions. As we discuss below, this principle creates real-world practical problems in the digital currency industry, in which it is not necessarily easy to obtain such information, unlike the traditional banking industry.
During his remarks, Director Blanco applauded the Financial Action Task Force’s (“FATF”) guidance issued last June, about which we have blogged here, instructing its 180 international member governments to similarly demand that virtual asset service providers (“VASPs”) collect “accurate originator information and required beneficiary information” on transactions of $1,000 or more. FATF’s pronouncement sent some shockwaves through the digital currency industry.
Notably, Director Blanco also lauded the efforts of cross-sector organizations and working groups to develop international standards and solutions to aid compliance with the Travel Rule. He urged for continued cooperation between FinCEN and the virtual currency industry to effectively implement Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) measures consistent with the Travel Rule.…
Continue Reading FinCEN Director Blanco Urges Collaboration Across Virtual Currency Industry to Comply with Travel Rule
Continue Reading FATF Issues Paper on COVID-19 Enhanced AML and Fraud Risks