Financial Crime

KYC & CDD

Foreign Tax Status Disclosures Required by New Zealand Banks

By Manesh Samtani | 07/06/2018

Banks required to report customers’ foreign tax status by 30 June; customers that do not respond may have their accounts frozen or closed.

Tokenisation

PBOC Develops Blockchain System to Digitise Paper Checks

By JP Reimann | 07/06/2018

Central bank to reduce fraud by tokenising checks with blockchain and having operations conducted by smart contracts; new system will remove manual cross-checking process, shorten transaction times to about 3 seconds.

Liquidity Risk

The Philippines Adopts NSFR For Large Banks

By Garima Chitkara | 07/06/2018

Banks given six months starting 1 July to start reporting NSFR; banks unable to meet the ratio will need to submit funding plan to the central bank.

Anti-Money Laundering

Japan to Review AML Measures at Banks Ahead of FATF Inspection

By Garima Chitkara | 07/06/2018

FSA to conduct interviews and on-site inspections on all of Japan’s banks and credit unions’ measures to prevent money laundering and illegal remittances.

Conduct, Culture & Accountability

S. Korean Banks Create Self-Regulating Hiring Guidelines

By JP Reimann | 07/06/2018

Guidelines will reintroduce written exams, involve outside experts in screening and interviews, adopt “blind recruitment” to prevent discrimination, and abolish recommendation-based hiring.

Market Abuse

Gaming the System is Part of Being a Great Banker

By Peter Guy | 07/06/2018

Criminal charges brought by Australian regulators against bankers in the ANZ cartel case represent a challenge against practices traditionally considered the norm in global underwriting syndicate culture.

Anti-Bribery & Corruption

Malaysia Central Bank Chief Resigns Amid 1MDB Controversy

By Manesh Samtani | 07/06/2018

Controversy relates to a land purchase by BNM; proceeds used by government to partly settle debt owed by troubled state fund 1MDB.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency in APAC: Opportunity, Challenge, and Risk

By David Liu | 06/06/2018

Financial institutions are at risk from the inherently opaque nature of cryptocurrency transactions, and require robust compliance programs to mitigating legal, financial, reputational, and regulatory risks.

Anti-Money Laundering

Commonwealth Bank Agrees to A$700m Penalty for AML Breaches

By Manesh Samtani | 04/06/2018

AUSTRAC investigations revealed inadequate AML/CTF risk assessment and controls, leading to failures in monitoring transactions, submitting transaction reports, detecting money laundering.