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 Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss financial regulator FINMA is planning to loosen anti-money laundering rules for smaller financial technology firms, part of a drive to boost innovation and shore up the country's position as a leading money management hub. The revisions, prompted by a new 'fintech' licensing category carved out by the Swiss parliament in June, will clarify how non-banks applying for the new licence must ensure due diligence. "As a rule, all financial institutions are subject to similar due-diligence requirements relating to combating money laundering. However, as most fintech licence applicants are likely to be smaller institutions, FINMA proposes to introduce some organisational relaxations for such institutions," the financial supervisor said in a statement on Tuesday. Its proposal defines small institutions as those with gross revenues under 1.5 million Swiss francs (£1.2 million). Under its terms small institutions, unlike banks, will not for … [Read more...] about Swiss watchdog to propose looser anti-money laundering rules for fintechs