US treasury secretary announces international commitment to enhance beneficial ownership transparency
US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said on Tuesday that she was launching a commitment by Washington and more than twenty foreign governments and authorities to enhance beneficial ownership transparency. Speaking at the Biden-Harris Administration’s second Summit for Democracy, she said the participants in the project would…
ABA calls on FinCEN to make changes to proposed beneficial ownership rule
The American Bankers Association (ABA) is urging the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to make changes to the form that entities will use to report beneficial ownership information to the registry that FinCEN is creating to store this information. Financial institutions have so far not…
Impact on financial institutions of upcoming US beneficial ownership rule examined in new paper
Financial institutions have so far not been provided the relief from the burdens of onboarding and customer due diligence they had hoped for as a result of the final version of the beneficial ownership rule issued in September by the US treasury department’s Financial Crimes…
FinCEN seeks comments from financial institutions and other stakeholders on proposed rule on access to beneficial ownership information
The US treasury department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is seeking comments on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on 15 December 2022 that would implement provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) that govern the access to and protection of beneficial ownership information….
Top EU court judgment allowing beneficial owners anonymity to general public may hinder AML/CFT compliance processing
The decision of the European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) that beneficial owners of registered companies can remain anonymous to the general public may hinder the ability of financial institutions seeking to quickly and easily obtain beneficial ownership in the course of their anti-money laundering…
Research exposes industrial-scale abuse of UK LLPs for financial crime
More than one in ten of all Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) ever incorporated in Britain bear the hallmarks of shell companies used for serious financial crimes, according to a new report published today by Transparency International UK (TI). The independent anti-corruption organisation now wants to…
Misinvoicing amongst TBML typologies used to cover up environmental crime
Allowing environmental, conservation, and anti-corruption organisations to access export invoices and trade data to identify misinvoicing could help curb environmental crime, including illegal mining, logging, fishing, and wildlife trafficking, according to a virtual convention on environmental crime related illicit financial flows. Transparent beneficial ownership information,…
Stakeholders respond to the FATF consultation on transparency and beneficial ownership draft amendments
Several stakeholders have commented on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) draft amendments to its Recommendation 25 (R25) on the transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements (Trade-based Financial Crime, 29 June 2022). Financial institutions are amongst those stakeholders the FATF is seeking views from…
FinCEN head issues reminder on Russia-related alerts, warns of lack of funds for new AML legislation
The head of the US treasury department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a reminder in a congressional committee of two alerts related to recent sanctions imposed on Russia that provide financial institutions with information about red flags and typologies that include several trade-based…
Clamp down expected on UK registered shell companies favoured by Russia and other ex-Soviet actors
The UK government has published its proposals to clamp down on the use of anonymous or fraudulent shell companies and partnerships that provide criminals with a veneer of legitimacy to help commit a range of crimes, from money laundering and grand corruption to fraud and…
