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Banks are facing enhanced scrutiny from examiners, causing them to sever ties with businesses they view as high-risk, but regulators are also pressuring them not to close those accounts, fearing financial disenfranchisement.
November 17 -
The Treasury Department and its anti-money laundering unit find themselves on the defensive as bankers say they're cutting ties with entire business sectors as a result of blunt enforcement efforts.
November 10
WASHINGTON Federal regulators on Tuesday released the latest
The 2014 edition of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering examination manual does not lay out new policy, yet banks view the guide as a valuable resource to evaluate their AML programs and ensure they align with the regulators' expectations. The manual released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council is a compilation of guidance that has been in effect since 2010.
"What we are trying to do is help by rolling everything into one document," Debra Novak, chief of the AML section in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s risk management supervision division, said at a recent BSA conference sponsored by the American Bankers Association. (The FDIC is one of the agencies on the FFIEC.)
The manual includes an overview of compliance program requirements, a description of sound industry practices and an explanation of exam procedures, according to the guide's introduction. The table of contents for the 2014 manual identifies the sections which have undergone the most revision.
The document is an interagency effort by the FDIC, Federal Reserve Board, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and State Liaison Committee. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control also collaborated in making revisions to the manual.
