Compliance & Ethics

There has long been an unspoken tension at the heart of anti-money laundering compliance. Banks file more reports, build more controls, document more processes, and yet the question lingers. Is any of it actually stopping bad actors? The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) took a direct swing at that question, proposing a rule that would fundamentally reshape how financial institutions are expected to approach AML and counter-terrorist financing programs under the Bank Secrecy Act.

Italy’s competition authority has handed Revolut more than €11 million in fines, concluding that the fintech group misled customers about its investment offering and used heavy-handed practices when restricting access to bank accounts.

New Zealand’s Co-operative Bank has been fined approximately $1.5 million (NZD $2.482 million) after the High Court found it charged customers unreasonable fees across a range of lending products over several years.

Australia’s financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, has ordered payment platform MHITS to appoint an external auditor to review its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) controls, in a move that shows growing unease with how parts of the payments sector are managing financial crime risk.

Federal and state regulators have reached a settlement with Lindsay Automotive Group, forcing the dealership network to return money to consumers and change how it prices and sells vehicles after years of alleged deceptive practices.

France’s competition authority, the Autorité de la concurrence, has fined Nexans and Sonepar a combined €6.5 million after concluding the two groups maintained what it described as a de facto exclusive import arrangement for electrical cables across France’s overseas territories.

India’s insurance regulator has adjusted its focus on how products are presented and sold online, urging insurers to take a closer look at whether their digital platforms are steering customers in ways that may be misleading.