- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2024-07-29T19:00:00
A Treasury Department official has warned that provisions of Florida’s “anti-woke” banking bill–and others like it–may “materially undermine” financial institutions’ compliance with federal anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and U.S. sanctions.
Brian Nelson, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in a July 18 letter that a new batch of state laws attempt to redefine “unsafe and unsound” banking practices in a way that conflicts with federal laws.
The Florida law prohibits “a financial institution’s reliance on any factor that is ‘not a quantitative … standard’ to determine which customers to serve or services to offer, further prohibiting consideration of a person’s ‘affiliations’ or ‘business sector’ to make these decisions,” Nelson wrote.
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A “biblically responsible” investment adviser agreed to pay $300,000 and hire an independent compliance consultant to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it misled investors, along with other compliance failures.
Four federal banking regulators have joined the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require financial institutions to conduct more thorough risk assessments on their anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism programs.
Financial institutions would be required to conduct more thorough risk assessments on their anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism programs under a new rule proposed by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
The U.K. has an ongoing problem with money laundering, but recent changes to economic crime law and corporate registration requirements could bring more cases to court, according to consultancy KPMG.
Enforcement actions in the first half of of 2024 by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network highlight the importance of proactive measures in Bank Secrecy Act compliance rather than just being compliant.
The U.K Financial Conduct Authority published findings showing that financial services firms are implementing its guidance on politically exposed persons related to anti-money laundering inconsistently, with experts warning firms of reputational damage arising from potential enforcement.
