NICE Actimize, a provider of financial crime, risk, and compliance solutions, has embraced generative artificial intelligence (A.I.) for three new solutions that target financial crime in ways intended to help overwhelmed financial crime and fraud teams at financial services firms, officials say. Generative A.I. are algorithms “that can be used to create new content, including… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Pays $12M to Resolve SAR Charges
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and its parent company BAC North America Holding Co. (BACNAH) have settled with the SEC and FINRA over charges that the broker-dealer failed to file approximately 1,500 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from 2009 to late 2019, resulting in penalties and fines totaling $12 million. The SAR shortcomings came… Read More >>
FinCEN Proposes SAR Sharing to Foreign Affiliates
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that urges the establishment of a limited-duration pilot program for sharing suspicious activity reports (SARs), in accordance with Section 6212 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020. The FinCEN notice also solicits public comment about the program. Under the pilot program, a… Read More >>
SEC & Colorado Firm Settle SARs Filing Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged GWFS Equities Inc., a Colorado-based registered broker-dealer that is an affiliate of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co., with violating federal securities laws governing the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports. Those charges have been settled in the familiar manner: a censure, a $1.5 million penalty, and the firm’s… Read More >>
Interactive Brokers Settles SARs & AML Cases for $38M
Interactive Brokers (IB) will be writing several checks and money orders as it pays $38 million in penalties to three industry regulators for alleged failures in filing Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), and anti-money laundering (AML) controls — a clear sign that authorities are cracking down on the obligation to monitor suspicious activity. The SEC is… Read More >>
FINRA Alleges LPL Failed to Submit 400+ SARs
Boston-based LPL Financial has been fined $2.75 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on charges that, among other problems, its anti-money laundering (AML) efforts failed to assess approximately 400 incidents that should have been investigated as Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). In addition, FINRA alleges that LPL “failed to file or amend registered representatives’… Read More >>
Regulators Allege Aegis Fell Short on Financial Crime-Fighting
Aegis Capital Corp., a retail and institutional broker-dealer based in New York City, has paid a penalty to the SEC and a fine to self-regulatory organization the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in response to charges that it failed to comply with financial crime recordkeeping and reporting rules and had inadequate supervisory and anti-money laundering… Read More >>
Wells Fargo Advisors & the SEC Settle SARs Case
A registered broker-dealer/wholly-owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company has settled with the SEC over allegations that it fell behind on its anti-money laundering (AML) responsibilities by failing to properly file 50 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) between March 2012 and June 2013, according to the regulator. The settlement requires Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, based in… Read More >>
