It’s not exactly Ella singing “Moonlight in Vermont.” More like one of those scary-movie shadows falling across the night sky, just before Count Dracula swoops in through the window. An exaggeration? It might not seem like one to Vermont’s would-be investors who — in just one month — reported more than $1 million in crypto-scam… Read More >>
LexisNexis Risk Solutions Buys Crime Detection Vendor
TruNarrative to Join LexisNexis Risk Solutions TruNarrative, a provider of cloud-based detection services for financial crime prevention, is being acquired by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, U.K. Ltd., which is part of RELX, officials say. TruNarrative, which will be added to the LexisNexis business services group, focuses on “the entire financial crime lifecycle within a single, unified… Read More >>
FBI, SEC & FINRA Warn Against Imposter Brokers
None other than Larson E. Whipsnade himself declared, “You can’t cheat an honest man.” That was in the 1939 movie of the same name, and Whipsnade was played by W.C. Fields. So, it should come as no surprise that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Financial Interest… Read More >>
Compliance Costs for Fighting Financial Crime Soar: Report
The “projected total cost of financial crime compliance across all financial institutions reached $213.9 billion in 2021, surpassing the $180.9 billion recorded in 2020.” That projection is from the “True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report,” a white paper from LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Not surprisingly, the white paper also concludes that the “majority of… Read More >>
Should the SEC Become a Crypto Cop?
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be taking on more oversight of the cryptocurrency trading world as there are many troubling regulatory gaps, says SEC Chair Gary Gensler in testimony May 26 before the subcommittee on financial services and general government, which is part of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. In testimony that covered… Read More >>
Do More to Stop Financial Crime: Study
More investment in better technology. Not surprisingly, that is one of the major improvements financial services firms need to make. Why, exactly? To “reduce the sector’s exposure to such monetary outlays as the aggregate $14.1 billion in penalties paid for non-compliance in 2020,” according to a May 2021 study by the ACAMS organization and Oliver… Read More >>
Whistleblowers in SEC Case Collect $50 Million
Would-be financial criminals beware: “joint whistleblowers,” whose identities have not been revealed, just scored a payday of “over $50 million.” That’s a big incentive to say something if you know something. The whistleblowers who collected the $50 million reported violations of financial-crime rules to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Those violations involved “highly… Read More >>
Firms Must Bolster AML Systems: FATF President
The G20 countries have recommitted to the battle against financial crime. One reason: The president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the self-described “global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog,” has prompted them to do more. In a plain-spoken speech at the recent Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting of the G20 countries,… Read More >>
SEC to Patrol for ESG & Climate Change Sins
Climate change, a.k.a. global warming, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns are getting real for financial services firms, particularly those working in securities trading. This is also true for the regulators overseeing them such as the SEC. A case in point is our story this week about a $247 billion pension fund, the New… Read More >>
Empire State Bans & Fines Bitfinex & Tether
New York Attorney General Letitia James is requiring Bitfinex and Tether, two crypto-currency trading platforms, “to end all trading activity with New Yorkers.” Her reason for the exile? Their practices are allegedly “fraudulent and deceptive” and the crypto-traders are “hiding approximately $850 million in losses around the globe,” the New York A.G. says in a… Read More >>
