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Bankers are bracing for the start of more severe anti-money laundering exams as regulators rework their standards and prepare to issue another round of guidance tackling the issue.
March 8 -
Lawmakers savaged the Treasury Department and banking regulators on Wednesday over their enforcement of anti-money laundering laws and the lack of criminal prosecutions against big banks for violating those provisions.
March 7 -
Regulators have uncovered "surprising deficiencies" in anti-money laundering compliance at some of the nation's largest banks, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said Monday.
March 4
Executives and senior management officials at the nation's largest banks must be held accountable for Bank Secrecy Act violations, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said Monday.
In a
"That has to be changed," Curry said. "Management at large banks needs to eliminate these accreted compliance weaknesses so that institutional structural flaws do not become an excuse for a lack of accountability... Shouldn't we, as bank supervisors, demand that institutions designate and hold senior managers responsible for BSA risk management just as they would for any other activity or line of business?"
Curry stopped shy of suggesting that regulators push for criminal prosecution of bank executives, calling the decision "solely the responsibility of law enforcement." Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.,
Increased regulatory scrutiny over banks' BSA and anti-money laundering compliance has led some lenders to
"Money transmitters, as a business, are more risky than, say, your local movie theater," Curry said. "But that doesn't mean that all money transmitters are high risk, nor does it mean that other types of businesses couldn't be used for illicit purposes... Higher-risk categories of customers call for stronger risk management and controls, not a strategy of total avoidance."
Curry appeared generally optimistic about banks' compliance efforts. "We are seeing progress, especially in terms of the priority that management at our large banks is placing on BSA compliance," he said. The speech's upbeat tone stood in marked contrast to Curry's