Seven UK banks second staff to police in world’s biggest AML data sharing project, Plus fine for Coinbase and Jersey defends BO rules
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Seven UK banks second staff to police in world’s biggest AML data sharing project, Plus fine for Coinbase and Jersey defends BO rules
Barclays, NatWest and Lloyds are among seven UK banks sharing customer data with the National Crime Agency in the largest project of its kind worldwide to tackle money laundering, we reveal today (Friday).
The NCA today announced the project which went live in May, includes voluntary data-sharing deals with Santander, TSB, Metro Bank and Starling Bank.
As part of the data sharing project (due to run until October), bank staff are seconded to the NCA to form a team of between 15 to 20 intelligence officers, data scientists and analysts to probe the movement of money suggestive of criminal behaviour – and ensure legitimate customers are left alone.
The project has already identified eight new crime networks that might be exploiting the financial system. Adrian Searle director of the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre, revealed that three crime networks had been passed to the NCA’s intelligence division for further investigation. The project has also uncovered new intelligence linked to 10 of the agency’s biggest investigations.
“The fundamental purpose is to bring together the collective efforts of law enforcement, government, regulators and the private sector to combat economic crime,” he says.
COINBASE: Meanwhile, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has only just issued its first enforcement action against a crypto asset trading firm.
#Coinbase holds the dubious honour of being that firm after being hit with a ￡3.5 million ($4.5 million) penalty.
The #FCA found the company’s UK subsidiary provided services for over 13,000 high risk customers, despite already being under supervision due to concerns over its AML controls.
JERSEY: One of the key stories of the AML week was Jersey receiving a favourable assessment from #MONEYVAL, easing any potential fears of being greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force.
Speaking to the media afterwards, Jersey officials explained their reasoning behind one of the island’s key AML policies - the fact that its beneficial ownership database is not publicly accessible.
Essentially, they said this was due to privacy worries, claiming that the benefit of corporate transparency should not outweigh ‘respect for private life and to the protection of personal data’.
Campaign groups are sceptical, with many pointing out how the likes of the media have been able to expose major conflicts of interest using beneficial ownership details.
But Jersey officials are clear - other than to select groups such as law enforcement, the information will not be shared.
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FINTECH OVERSIGHT: Speaking of regulators and fintechs, AML Intelligence special correspondent Sarah Beth Felix took a look at oversight of the sector in the U.S.
Michael Hsu, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, spoke last week about state-licensed money services businesses - conceding that "none” of them are “supervised prudentially at the federal level".
Of course, this tends to starkly contrast with banks, where the cost of complying with ever-tightening AML rules has been on a steady upward march in recent years.
The argument now is that this imbalance has become unfair and it is time for greater oversight of fintechs, especially the closing of loopholes which allows many to effectively avoid AML controls altogether.
FRAUD
REAL ESTATE: It would be hard to find a more perfect case study in the increasing sophistication of online fraud than that of Rana Robillard.
The 55 year old is likely one of the last people who would fall for a typical online scam, given her background as a 25-year veteran of Silicon Valley tech companies including cybersecurity firm HackerOne.
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Despite this, she was tricked into sending $400,000 to scammers while trying to buy a $1.6m home in California.
While the funds were eventually recovered after a protracted process involving multiple lenders, it is yet another example of why fraud losses continue to surge.
BIG 4: Finally, it is suspected that a textbook example of one of the people enabling mass online fraud was recently uncovered in Dublin.
A senior IT figure at one of Ireland’s most prominent accountancy companies is under suspicion of using cryptocurrency to help launder $700,000 for criminals.
While the man has not yet been arrested, police have frozen crypto assets worth $240,000 and are poring over transactions linked to the wallet.
While not yet confirmed, it is thought that the man may have been laundering funds for the Black Axe gang, one of Africa’s most notorious criminal organisations.
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FINTECH WAVE
REVOLUT: Well, that was quite the turnaround.
Earlier this week, UK fintech Revolut was making headlines due to being pushed by the European Central Bank to improve its financial controls.
Fast forward a few days, and the company was celebrating finally securing its UK banking licence after a protracted three-year process.
While applications are usually dealt with within 12 months, UK regulators were worried about several aspects of Revolut’s operations, such as the late filing of its accounts.
The green light here brings two major positives for #Revolut.
First, the company can now provide potentially lucrative banking services to nine million of its customers in its home market.
Second, the UK approval is likely to greatly help Revolut in winning over regulators in other markets, as one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups aims to maintain its upward trajectory.
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Have a great Friday ??
Stephen and the team at AMlintelligence.
Compliance & Risk Management Expert | Driving Results with Strategic Vision | Navigating Regulatory Landscapes for Business Success
4 个月Obliged entities (anyone subject to AML regulations) should be able to get access to all UBO registers in my opinion. It should be a simple process of presenting your licence and nomination of officers to be able to access the data. There should be no privacy concerns as they must collect the information anyway and the register should be used to verify what they already know. My preference would be that data providers such as Moody's Corporation and the like should also get the data and they can provide it to the obliged entities once they have confirmed their clients are legally entitled to see the information. It would reduce compliance costs and customer burden. I'm yet to hear a good reason from anyone as to why this shouldn't be the case.