Anti money laundering nz lawyers

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Friday that it had fined the Hong Kong branch of JPMorgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> HK$12.5 million ($1.60 million) and reprimanded it for breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules.The regulator said that the firm failed to "establish and maintain effective procedures" for identifying and handling wire transfers and for complying with rules on customer due diligence and "continuous monitoring" of business relationships.gi The HKMA also ordered the Hong Kong unit of the U.S. bank to have an independent external adviser prepare a report into whether its remedial measures were sufficient to address the "contraventions and other deficiencies" it had identified.The action follows an investigation by the HKMA which found that between April 2012 and February 2014 JPMorgan Hong Kong contravened six provisions of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules, said the … [Read more...] about HKMA fines JPMorgan Hong Kong branch over anti-money laundering lapses

By Suzanne Barlyn(Reuters) - Wall Street's industry funded watchdog fined the U.S. brokerage unit of Morgan Stanley <MS.N> $10 million on Wednesday for compliance failures in the firm's anti-money laundering programme, the regulator said.gi The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said the lapses spanned more than five years, from January 2011 until April 2016.Morgan Stanley, which agreed to the fine as part of a settlement, did not admit nor deny FINRA's charges, but consented to the entry of the regulator's findings."We are pleased to have resolved this matter from several years ago," Morgan Stanley said in a statement. FINRA rules require brokerages to have policies and procedures in place to comply with a federal law aimed at detecting and curbing money laundering.A Morgan Stanley automated surveillance system did not receive important data from other Morgan Stanley systems, FINRA said. The lapse impaired the firm's overall tracking of tens of billions of dollars … [Read more...] about Morgan Stanley unit to pay $10 million fine for anti-money laundering violations

By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union should set up a new agency to counter money laundering after a series of high-profile cases at banks bared weaknesses in the system, an influential think-tank said in a report, urging full disclosure of fines imposed on wrongdoers. Over the last months, lenders in Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain and Cyprus have been embroiled in money laundering scandals, with criminal schemes often executed through foreign branches within the EU. Increased media attention to recent cases has pushed EU regulators to discuss limited changes to the bloc's legal framework, but proposals to slightly increase the monitoring powers of the European Banking Authority (EBA) face opposition in some member states. However, the reform should go much further than what is currently discussed, experts at the Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel said in a report on Thursday. "It is evident that recent anti-money … [Read more...] about EU should set up anti-money laundering body, publish fines

By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) – New rules to tackle money laundering in the European Union took effect on Monday but the bloc already faces calls for further reforms as new shortcomings emerged after alleged wrongdoing at banks in Baltic states and Malta. The fifth review of the EU anti-money laundering directive became binding on Monday after two years of EU talks to strengthen controls on the real owners of companies and digital payments, including virtual currencies. But despite marking progress in the fight against large-scale fraudsters, the new rules could be born obsolete as they fail to address new gaps exposed by a series of banking scandals this year in Latvia, Estonia and Malta.. The adopted overhaul requires states to set up centralised bank account registers to smooth the work of security forces. But the national “financial intelligence units” remain weak and rarely cooperate, making it easier for criminals to get away with illegal proceeds … [Read more...] about As anti-money laundering reform kicks in, EU seeks to close new gaps