Author: gracechurchfcp

Guatemala’s Former Economics Minister Pleads Guilty to Paying Bribes

Bribery, Prosecutions
A former high-ranking government official in Guatemala has pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to conspiring to commit money laundering while paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Guatemalan politicians through the U.S. banking system. Acisclo Valladares Urruela, the former economics minister in Guatemala, admitted that he transferred $350,000 in bribery payments to the unidentified Guatemalan politicians through two companies with bank accounts in Miami, according to a factual statement filed with his plea agreement. Valladares also acknowledged that he received $140,000 for moving the dirty money into those accounts, the statement says. Valladares paid the illegal bribes…

Exploring the New Dawn for Crypto and Regulation

Digital Currencies, Regulation
In recent times there has arguably been a global shift in the regulatory attitudes and action towards cryptocurrency. What once was considered a fringe currency is gradually being brought into the mainstream and legitimised by regulation. In the past six months, the UK government has created a Crypto and Digital Assets Group, announced that it is “open” for crypto business, and launched a consultation into an insolvency regime for cryptocurrency, specifically stablecoins. A recent report by CUBE has explored global regulatory data to understand the shifting regulatory attitudes for crypto. It has found that in four years alone, there has…

Deutsche Bank Settles Money-Laundering Case for $7.1m

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Deutsche Bank AG settled a probe by Frankfurt prosecutors looking into whether the bank violated money-laundering prevention rules for 7.01 million euros ($7.1 million). The bank agreed to pay the amount and accepted an administrative penalty notice, the lender said in a statement. Frankfurt prosecutors confirmed the end of the investigation, which found the bank failed to file 701 reports of suspicious activities. Deutsche Bank acted “thoughtlessly,” they said. The settlement comes less than three months after law enforcement officials raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt as part of the investigation. The bank had processed payments related to the extended…

Why not a single banker was jailed over HSBC’s billion-dollar money laundering scandal

Money Laundering
Ten years after the bank admitted enabling El Chapo’s Mexican drug cartel, the drug lord is serving a life sentence but bankers only faced fines. Whose job is it to police global finance? No senior banker went to jail over 2008; no HSBC banker was charged, let alone went to jail, when the bank admitted in 2012 to enabling the laundering of billions of dollars of drugs money for El Chapo and his Mexican Sinaloa cartel. The reason, as I explain in my new book Too Big to Jail – Inside HSBC, the Mexican drug cartels and the greatest banking…

Londongrad: how the City became a money-laundering haven

Money Laundering
Which key factors have conspired to make the UK capital synonymous with financial crime? Insights outlines the root causes, and ICAEW’s Michelle Giddings highlights emerging vulnerabilities.Since the dawn of Russia’s war with Ukraine, scrutiny has intensified on illicit financial activity conducted in and around the City of London. Rooted primarily in money laundering, the cycle of criminality has earned the UK’s financial hub two damning sobriquets: ‘The Laundromat’ and ‘Londongrad’ – monikers steeped in such blithe resignation, they convey that London’s susceptibility to malign influences is essentially taken for granted. Faith in a medium- or long-term solution is conspicuous by…

Review of the UK’s AML/CFT regulatory and supervisory regime

Money Laundering
The government is publishing two post-implementation reviews and a forward-looking review of the UK’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regime. Review of the UK’s AML/CFT regulatory and supervisory regime Post Implementation Review of the Money Laundering Regulations Post Implementation Review of the OPBAS Regulations Details The government is publishing a forward-looking review of the UK’s AML/CFT regime, in response to the call for evidence launched last year. Alongside this, the government is also publishing two post-implementation reviews to fulfil its statutory obligations; one of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and one of the OPBAS Regulations 2017. Taken…

Ex-bank manager sentenced for £255,000 money laundering

Money Laundering
A former Barclays Bank manager has been sentenced today (31 May 2022) for helping to launder £255,000. Heather Smalley, 31, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, for entering an arrangement which facilitated the laundering of another person’s criminal proceeds, at Warwick Crown Court. Smalley had pleaded guilty to this charge on 23 March, at Coventry Magistrates’ Court. Smalley had worked for Barclays Bank for 14 years and was the bank manager at a Coventry branch. On six occasions, between February and October 2020, she arranged to take in bags of low value £10 and £20 notes…

Mining firm Glencore pleads guilty to UK bribery charges

Bribery, Corruption
A British subsidiary of the mining firm Glencore has pleaded guilty in a UK court to corruption offences for the second time in the last two months. It was accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure access to crude oil in several African countries. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) found that bribes occurred from 2012 to 2016. It found that bribes of over $28m (£22.8m) were paid via the Swiss-based firm’s employees and agents. The bribery charges stated that the firm’s aim was for officials to “perform their functions improperly, or reward them for so doing, by…

UK’s revenue and customs agency begins handing out fines to art market players

Art Dealers, Money Laundering
HMRC, the UK’s revenue and customs agency, has started to hand out fines to art market participants (those handling transactions of €10,000 or above) who failed to register under the new anti-money laundering legislations, by the June 2021 deadline. The list of companies and individuals receiving fines will not be publicly available (via the government’s website) until later this year, but one such penalty notice seen by The Art Newspaper makes it clear that “trading whilst unregistered” was now being pursued as a breach of the regulations. In addition to carrying out increased due diligence, art market participants have been…

U.K. Regulator FCA Fines Ghana International Bank $7.1M for Weak Anti-Money-Laundering Controls

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Thursday that it fined U.K.-based Ghana International Bank PLC about GBP5.8 million (US$7.1 million), for alleged failures in its anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing controls in relation to its correspondent-banking activities. By using correspondent-banking relationships, banks can gain access to financial services in various jurisdictions and provide cross-border payment services to customers. The regulator said that no money laundering was detected, but that between 2012 and 2016, the bank failed to perform required checks on its established relationships with overseas banks and assess those banks’ anti-money-laundering controls. As a result, the FCA said the risk…

Justice Department Urges Companies to Self-Report Sanctions Violations

Sanctions
The Justice Department is looking to enlist the private sector in its efforts to enforce U.S. sanctions on countries such as Russia, a top official said. The agency has long worked to police the restrictions that the U.S. has placed on countries such as Iran or North Korea, but it has dialed up its efforts following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Thursday. The Justice Department is adding resources and looking for new ways to enforce sanctions, said Ms. Monaco, who spoke via video at a conference hosted by Global Investigations Review in London. The agency…

French Woman Violaine Clerc Takes Over as FATF’s New Executive Secretary

FATF, Financial Crime
FRENCH regulator Violaine Clerc was today unveiled as the new FATF Executive Secretary. Ms Clerc comes to the international position with more than 25 years experience in prudential, AML and CFT supervision through positions at the French Central Bank and French financial supervision authority (ACPR). She previously served as a member of the AML standing committee of the three European supervisory authorities, as well as a senior member of the French delegation to FATF. She was co-chair of the Evaluation and Compliance Group of the FATF for eight years. FATF said Ms Clerc takes the lead at an “important time,”…

Publication of the Effectiveness Through Collaboration Paper

Money Laundering, Terrorism, Wolfsberg
Today, the Wolfsberg Group is publishing its paper on Effectiveness through Collaboration. The document expands on a key element of the Wolfsberg Group’s views on developing an effective Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) programme (The Wolfsberg Factors), which is to engage with the public sector, including law enforcement. The paper specifically focuses on successful engagement through Public-Private Partnerships and is intended to be an introduction to the subject for those who may be less familiar with the principles underpinning these arrangements and the pivotal role that national authorities must play. The Wolfsberg Group urges the public sector to prioritise the establishment…

Credit Suisse Prosecutor Finds $60 Million in Money Laundering

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
A prosecutor has identified more than $60 million that he believes was laundered through Credit Suisse Group AG, in the precursor to what would be just the second Swiss criminal indictment ever against a major local lender. Geneva’s top financial-crime prosecutor, Yves Bertossa, identified a series of 8 transactions the bank failed to prevent between 2008 and 2014 at a hearing last week, which he said constituted aggravated money laundering by the Swiss lender, according to people familiar with the investigation. Patrice Lescaudron, the fraudster at the heart of the case, faked signatures and contrived dummy portfolio statements to illegally…

Sanctions Take Toll on Laundering Tools Used by Ransomware Gangs

Sanctions
U.S. sanctions in recent months have hammered a handful of cryptocurrency services used by ransomware groups, suggesting Washington can effectively target some tools hackers use to convert digital ransom payments into cash. The Treasury Department since last year has sanctioned at least three Russia-based crypto exchanges, as well as a mixing service hackers allegedly used to help launder dirty money, barring U.S. companies from transacting with them. “Sanctions have been catastrophic to their business, severely damaging their operations,” said Jackie Koven, head of cyber threat intelligence at Chainalysis Inc., which analyzes crypto transactions across public ledgers known as blockchains. Ms.…

Deutsche Bank investors can sue in U.S. over Epstein and Russian oligarch ties

Corruption, Money Laundering
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Monday said shareholders can sue Deutsche Bank AG for allegedly hiding shortfalls in its internal controls while doing business with risky, ultra-rich clients like the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Russian oligarchs. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said shareholders may try to prove in their proposed class action that the German bank was aware its know-your-customer and anti-money laundering controls were ineffective, and that its share price fell as the truth became known. In a 30-page decision, Rakoff said the complaint described specific processes that Deutsche Bank knowingly undermined through an…

Justice Department Secures Forfeiture of Property Purchased with $3.5 Million in Alleged Corruption Proceeds Linked to Ex-President of The Gambia

Corruption, DoJ, Prosecutions
The Department of Justice, pursuant to a court-ordered default judgment and final order of forfeiture entered on May 24, has secured the forfeiture of a Potomac, Maryland, property acquired with approximately $3.5 million in alleged corruption proceeds by the former President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, through a trust set up by his wife, Zineb Jammeh. The judgment is the result of a civil forfeiture complaint filed by the United States in July 2020 seeking the forfeiture of the Maryland property. As alleged in the complaint, Yahya Jammeh corruptly obtained millions of dollars through the misappropriation of stolen public funds…

The Crackdown on the Illicit-Finances Aiding Oligarchs

Money Laundering, Sanctions
The United States Department of Treasury has outlined actions it plans to take to address illicit finance, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had underscored the need to close regulatory loopholes and step up the fight against related financial crime and transnational corruption. Major international financial institutions have previously been caught red handed in scandal in banking sanctioned groups and individuals the most historically notable was HSBC Mexico facilitating a money laundering scheme on a grand scale for drug cartels, which resulted in a fine in excess of $2 billion. Most recently, a massive leak outlining Credit Suisse’s less than reputable…

Crypto Exchanges Should Lose Licenses for Laundering Breaches, EU Regulators Say

Digital Currencies, Money Laundering, Regulation
Crypto exchanges should lose their licenses if found to have seriously breached anti-money laundering rules, European Union financial supervisors said. The recommendation comes as lawmakers reach the closing stages of landmark legislation known as the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation, or MiCA, introducing an authorization regime for virtual asset companies within the 27-nation bloc.Regulatory authorities responsible for authorizing or registering crypto exchanges and wallet providers should “be empowered to withdraw the authorisation/registration for serious breaches of AML/CFT [anti-money laundering and terrorist finance] rules,” said a report published Wednesday by the three European supervisory authorities responsible for overseeing banks, insurers and…

Decision on Lifting EU Sanctions Against Alisher Usmanov and Sisters Expected Soon

Sanctions
European court of justice deciding appeal filed by ‘one of Putin’s favourite oligarchs’ Sanctions imposed on the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his two sisters could be suspended after a legal challenge at the European court of justice by the businessman once described as one of Vladimir Putin’s “favourite oligarchs”. Usmanov, as well as his sisters Saodat Narzieva and Gulbakhor Ismailova, each filed separate legal appeals in April in an attempt to overturn sanctions that have blocked them from travelling across the EU or making use of assets located in member states, including a $600m (£484m) yacht. The Guardian understands…

70% Accountants and Lawyers Have Money Laundering Fears Over Russian Dark Funds

Money Laundering, Sanctions
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 25th MAY, 2022: 70% of accountants and lawyers are more concerned about money laundering since Russian events and sanctions began, with 75% moving anti-money laundering (AML) up the company agenda in the past year. That’s according to First AML, the end-to-end AML software solution, which surveyed 200 accountants and lawyers in the UK to discover attitudes toward current compliance and AML procedures. Despite 53% of respondents having identified an instance of suspected money laundering in the past three years (with 24% identifying more than one) only 45% are completely confident in their AML procedures. Alongside this, a…

Time to Shut Down Dirty Money’s “London Laundromat”

Money Laundering
Just before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the British anticorruption advocacy group Transparency International UK estimated that Russians accused of corruption or having close links to the Kremlin owned an estimated £1.5 billion worth of property in the United Kingdom, and that front companies registered in the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies had concealed more than £82 billion of corrupt Russian funds. This was only part of a bigger problem. The research corroborated what countless reports and exposés have shown in recent years: the role played by institutions and expertise in…

Mining Giant Pleads Guilty to U.K. Bribery Charges

Bribery
A subsidiary of the mining and commodities trading giant Glencore has pleaded guilty to seven counts of bribery in a London court. The firm also said it will pay more than $1bn (£800m) to resolve similar claims with the US and Brazil. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office said it had exposed “profit-driven bribery and corruption” across Glencore Energy UK’s oil operations in five African nations. The firm will find how much it must pay in fines at a sentencing in June. It previously set aside $1.5bn to cover the investigations it faced in the UK, US and Brazil. Glencore’s chairman…

Soldiers Arrested on Drug and Money Laundering Offences

Money Laundering
Six soldiers and a veteran have been arrested on suspicion of drug, money-lending and money-laundering offences, the Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said six Irish Guards troops and a Coldstream Guardsman veteran were arrested by the Royal Military Police as part of a “planned operation”. The 1st Battalion Irish Guards are set to lead Thursday’s Trooping the Colour for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The MoD said none of the soldiers under investigation would take part. A defence source confirmed to the BBC that items suspected to be drugs were seized in a raid at Mons Barracks in Aldershot…

Defining Cryptocurrency Regulation Important for the Industry to Grow

Digital Currencies, Regulation
A united government may make it easier for new crypto laws to be agreed upon, and to “follow the spirit of Biden’s executive order” in keeping the U.S. at the vanguard of innovation, Morgan Stanley (MS) said in a report Wednesday looking at the implications of midterm elections for the cryptocurrency sector. According to the bank’s public policy analysts, legislation concerning tech regulation, cryptocurrency, pricing of prescription drugs, tax increases and China competition will have varying chances of passage by the end of 2023, depending on the outcome of the November elections. Defining regulation for digital assets is important for…

EU Considers Blacklisting UAE After ‘Dubai Uncovered’ Leaks

Corruption, Sanctions
Following revelations of how criminals, sanctioned Russian oligarchs, and corrupt officials are big property investors in Dubai, European Parliament members have suggested that the United Arab Emirates should be blacklisted in the same manner as North Korea, Burkina Faso and Iran. Last week, OCCRP and investigative journalists from 20 other outlets uncovered how Russian politicians, sanctioned oligarchs, and criminals have poured their ill-gotten gains into luxury properties in Dubai. The ‘Dubai Uncovered’ investigation, based on a 2020 leak by the Center For Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) into the emirate’s housing market, has drawn calls from EU politicians for tougher anti-money…

UK Middlemen Paid £9.7m in Bribes to Saudis for Contracts

Bribery, Prosecutions
Two men funnelled bribes totalling millions of pounds to a Saudi prince and other high-ranking officials to secure lucrative commercial contracts, the opening day of a trial has heard. The Serious Fraud Office alleges that a total of £9.7m was paid to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah and a group of senior Saudi officials to land the contracts for a British subsidiary of the European aerospace group Airbus. Mark Heywood QC, for the prosecution, said British middlemen for years had regularly paid bribes to “highly placed” Saudis through offshore companies and Swiss bank accounts in what amounted to “deep corruption”. Jeffrey…

U.S. Says it Imposes Sanctions on Moscow Backed Iranian Oil Smuggling Network

Money Laundering, Sanctions
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on what it described as a Russian-backed oil smuggling and money laundering network for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, even as Washington tries to revive nuclear deal with Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department said the network was led by current and former Quds Force figures, “backed by senior levels of the Russian Federation government” and included Chinese companies and a former Afghan diplomat. It had raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran’s Quds Force and Tehran’s Lebanese allies Hezbollah, and helped Tehran support proxy militant groups, Treasury said. The Quds Force is…

Global Crypto Regulatory Body Is Coming Soon

Digital Currencies, Regulation
A joint body tasked with coordinating crypto regulation globally is sorely needed and could become a reality within the next year, according to Ashley Alder, chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), an association of market regulators. Alder was speaking at an online conference organized by the think tank Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). Alder, who is also the CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, said the growth of digital currency markets and their increasing connection to mainstream finance has made crypto a top focus area for regulators around the world. “Crypto has obviously…

Bankers Support Switzerland’s Decision not Change Banking Secrecy Law

Money Laundering
Swiss bankers defended on Tuesday the decision of a parliamentary commission not to strike down the controversial article 47 from the country’s banking secrecy law that has been criticized by the UN, journalists and human rights advocates as violating press freedom. After meeting last week to deliberate the subject, Swiss lawmakers chose not to touch the article of the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks that prescribes a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine for whoever discloses confidential banking information about a Swiss bank’s client. “From the point of view of the majority of the…

KPMG Hit by Latest in String of Fines Over Rolls-Royce Bribery Scandal

Bribery
KPMG UK is facing the latest in a litany of multimillion pound fines for failings in its supervision of the accounts of Rolls-Royce Holdings, the aircraft engine manufacturer. Sky News has learnt that the big four auditor could be hit with a roughly-£4.5m penalty as soon as this week over work dating back more than a decade. One source familiar with the situation said the £4.5m was expected to be discounted to reflect KPMG’s co-operation with the inquiry led by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The fine relates to the firm’s work on Derby-headquartered Rolls-Royce, which in 2017 paid more…

U.S. Issues Charges in First Criminal Cryptocurrency Sanctions Case

Digital Currencies, Prosecutions, Sanctions
The Justice Department has launched its first criminal prosecution involving the alleged use of cryptocurrency to evade U.S. economic sanctions, a federal judge disclosed Friday. In an unusual nine-page opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui of Washington, D.C., explained why he approved a Justice Department criminal complaint against an American citizen accused of transmitting more than $10 million worth of bitcoin to a virtual currency exchange in one of a handful of countries comprehensively sanctioned by the U.S. government: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or Russia. In the ruling, the judge called cryptocurrency’s reputation for providing anonymity to users…

The Sanctioned Oligarch’s Son and a £160m London Property Empire

Sanctions
The son of a Russian billionaire facing sanctions for supporting the dictator who runs Belarus has been linked to a £160m portfolio of London properties. Said Gutseriev, a 34-year-old businessman with British and Russian nationality, appears to have spent years amassing a collection of at least seven properties in central London. They range from large office buildings in the City to a pair of £17m townhouses in south Kensington knocked together to make one residence. Said’s father, Mikhail Gutseriev, was blacklisted last year, by the EU in June and the UK in August, months after the violent repression of protests…

Money Lost to COVID Fraud and Error is More Than the 10 Biggest Heists in History Put Together

Fraud
The money lost to Covid fraudsters and civil service blunders is more than 10 times all the biggest heists in history combined, Labour analysis has shown. The Treasury has had to write off £11.8bn in public funds which were wrongly claimed by fraudsters under the various Covid support schemes, or lost by mistake. By contrast, the top 10 heists in British history amount to only £1.1bn in today’s terms when adjusted for inflation. Labour accused Rishi Sunak of a “great Covid robbery”. The Great Train Robbery of 1963 led to the loss of £2.6m, while the most lucrative heist of…

A Museum Could be in Breach of Sanctions if it Returns a Fabergé Egg to its Russian Oligarch Owner

Sanctions
The Victoria and Albert Museum is in possession of a Fabergé Egg belonging to a sanctioned oligarch. The ornament, owned by Viktor Vekselberg, is on loan to the London museum. The institution could end up breaching sanctions if it’s returned to Vekselberg, however. A UK museum, which is in possession of a Fabergé Egg belonging to a sanctioned Russian oligarch, could breach sanctions if it returns it to him. iNews reported the story first. Viktor Vekselberg acquired the very first Fabergé Egg – an elaborately decorated ornament – in 2004, according to The Art Newspaper. It was commissioned in 1885…

Britain Must Do More to Tackle Corruption in Politics and Finance, Lawmaker Says

Corruption, Regulation
Britain has lost its moral compass and must act to tackle “dirty money” and protect the integrity of its democracy, a senior opposition lawmaker said in a report published on Monday by King’s College London. Margaret Hodge, a Labour lawmaker for 28 years and former head of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, said a culture of deregulation and light-touch enforcement had allowed financial malpractice to flourish and this was seeping in to politics. “Unacceptable behaviour is in danger of becoming commonplace,” Hodge, who chairs a cross-party parliamentary group on anticorruption and responsible tax, said in the report for the Policy Institute.…

EU Proposes New Rules to Confiscate Assets of Criminals and Oligarchs Evading Sanctions

Sanctions
Today, the Commission proposes a new Directive on Asset Recovery and Confiscation. It includes rules on asset recovery from tracing and identification, through freezing and management, to confiscation of assets. The Asset Recovery and Confiscation Directive proposes to modernise EU rules on asset recovery and confiscation by: Ensuring that financial investigations aimed at tracing illicit assets are swiftly launched in all complex criminal investigations against organised crime. Providing Asset Recovery Offices with the powers and information to swiftly trace and identify criminal assets, including by urgently freezing property. Establishing Asset Management Offices to ensure that frozen property does not lose…

SEC Charges Wells Fargo Advisors with Anti-Money Laundering Related Violations

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Wells Fargo Advisors for failing to file at least 34 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner between April 2017 and October 2021. Wells Fargo Advisors, the St. Louis-based broker-dealer, has agreed to pay $7 million to settle the charges. According to the SEC’s order, due to Wells Fargo Advisors’ deficient implementation and failure to test a new version of its internal anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring and alert system adopted in January 2019, the system failed to reconcile the different country codes used to monitor foreign wire transfers. As…

EU Plans to Stop Russians From Buying Property in Europe

Sanctions
An EU-wide ban on property transactions with Russian nationals has been added to the Commission’s sixth package of sanctions. In the proposal, the European Commission intends to stop property deals with Russian individuals, residents and entities — prohibiting the sale or transfer, directly or indirectly of ownership rights in property in the bloc. It is designed to apply to land and dwellings located “within the territory of the Union or units in collective investment undertakings providing exposure to such immovable property.” The latest EU action targets both the Russian state and oligarchs and for the first time specifically targets the…

UK Financial Conduct Authority Acts to Improve Financial Crime Issues at Challenger Banks

FCA, Financial Crime Controls
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published the findings of its multi-firm review into financial crime controls at challenger banks. The FCA undertook the review in 2021 in response to the 2020 National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing, which highlighted the risk that quick onboarding processes advertised by challenger banks could appeal to criminals. The FCA’s review revealed that technology is being used well to identify and verify customers quickly and that there are not many differences between the financial crime risks facing challenger banks and those posed to traditional retail banks. However, there are several areas…