Bank of Queensland at risk of penalties for AML/CFT failings
Bank of Queensland (BOQ) says it is at risk of being subjected to penalties, sanctions or other enforcement action due to weaknesses in its anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programme. If it is in breach of AML/CFT regulations, the Australian regional bank…
TBML top of emerging financial crime risks in Asia-Pacific says LexisNexis
Trade-based money laundering (TBML) has ranked top of the list of emerging financial crime risks in the latest LexisNexis True Cost of Compliance Study – Asia-Pacific Edition. Crimes involving digital payments and cryptocurrency, third parties – including TBML, money mules, professionals lending perceived legitimacy and…
Freshly sanctioned Russian entities may turn to established TBML platforms and schemes
Sanctions imposed by western countries, Australia and Japan on Russian banks, oligarchs and other wealthy individuals in response to Moscow ordering troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine may prompt sanctioned individuals and entities to contemplate using trade-based money laundering (TBML) operations to channel funds….
AML violations triggered biggest bank fines in 2020
Failure to adhere to anti-money laundering (AML) protocols was the most common banking violation that led to substantial fines being imposed on financial institutions last year according to data in Finbold’s Bank Fines Report 2020. The data shows that fines for all violations totalled US$14.21…
Australian financial services watchdog issues guide to combat illegal wildlife trade, money laundering and illicit fund flows
The Australian government’s financial intelligence agency that monitors financial transactions to identify money laundering and other financial crimes has issued a guide for financial institutions to combat illegal wildlife trafficking trade by identifying, targeting and reporting suspicious financial activity. The guide issued by the Australian Transaction Reports and…
Australia’s Westpac admits multiple AML/CFT breaches
Australia’s Westpac Banking has said in a defence filing in court that it “made a large number of admissions” of failures in a case where it stands accused of 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws. The Sydney-based lender now…
