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Malta: Lawyers remain laggards in adopting money laundering risk assessment tools

Only 57% of lawyers had a business risk assessment (BRA) in place last year, placing them last in a list of sectors that includes credit institutions, gaming companies, trust services providers, notaries and accountants. Lawyers remained laggards in a league table of sectors obliged to have a business risk assessment,… Read More

Biden to Pick Former New Orleans Prosecutor to Lead Justice Department’s Criminal Division

President Biden is nominating a former Obama-era official to oversee major white-collar, narcotics and cybercrime investigations at the U.S. Justice Department. The White House on Monday said it would nominate Kenneth Polite, who served as U.S. attorney in New Orleans under President Barack Obama, to serve as the assistant attorney… Read More

Cyprus Launches New Registry that Identifies Company Owners

By Julett Pineda Sleinan, OCCRP, 12 April 2021 OCCRP — Trying to combat its reputation as a money-laundering haven, Cyprus has launched a new registry that requires companies to reveal their true beneficiaries – a measure the country said it has adopted to improve transparency and… Read More

13th April 2021

UK adds Pakistan to 21 high-risk states list

The UK government has added Pakistan to the list of undesirable 21 high-risk countries with unsatisfactory money laundering and terrorist financing controls. This list of 21 countries — released by the UK Government — replicates the list of countries named by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as high-risk or… Read More

13th April 2021

New Zealand central bank launches new enforcement department

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) said on Tuesday it was expanding its regulatory resources with a new standalone enforcement department focusing on compliance in the banking, insurance and anti-money laundering sectors. The new department and the bank’s separate supervision team will work closely to achieve compliance goals, RBNZ… Read More

12th April 2021

Bank of Ireland is first to allow asylum seekers open accounts

Bank of Ireland will allow asylum seekers to open bank accounts from May 14. A Bank of Ireland spokesperson told the Irish Independent that the bank is very aware that in some specific circumstances, a customer may not have documentation that’s normally required to open an account. It has now… Read More

12th April 2021

New CSP regulations will help weed out bad apples, MFSA official says

Amendments to the Corporate Service Provider regulations will help weed out any bad apples from the system, Emily Benson, the Malta Financial Services Authority’s (MFSA) Head of Conduct Supervision told The Malta Independent on Sunday. Benson was part of the team that spearheaded the new Company Services Providers (CSPs) regulations… Read More

12th April 2021

UAE anti-money laundering: Registration for non-financial entities, individuals extended until April 30

The UAE Ministry of Economy announced the extension of the deadline granted to companies in the “specific non-financial business and professions” sector to register in government regulations approved for countering money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism until the end of April. The decision is due to the large… Read More

12th April 2021

Malta’s controversial fundraising rules for NGOs being watered down

Controversial rules that are meant to tackle financial crime in the voluntary sector will be watered down following an outcry by NGOs. Government sources told Times of Malta that a list of changes will be drafted to the rules introduced to combat money laundering within the voluntary sector. The regulations… Read More

12th April 2021

Big Business Slams Hong Kong’s Move to Limit Company Registry

The main group representing multinational businesses in Hong Kong blasted the government’s hasty plan to limit information in the financial hub’s company registry, saying the move could hurt investments and trade. In a letter to lawmakers distributed on Wednesday, The International Chamber of Commerce – Hong Kong urged the government… Read More

8th April 2021

FinCEN Begins Making Rules For Corporate Transparency Act

By Sadie Brown, OCCRP, 7 April 2021 OCCRP — The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) asked last week for the public to comment on a series of questions about the new beneficial ownership reporting requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), according to an… Read More

7th April 2021

Hong Kong Courts the Rich as China Tightens Its Grip

Political opposition has been quashed. Free speech has been stifled. The independent court system may be next. But while Hong Kong’s top leaders take a tougher line on the city of more than seven million people, they are… Read More

7th April 2021

Lawyers, accountants face tougher rules, higher costs to act as company directors

An army of warranted professionals in Malta – accountants, auditors, lawyers and notaries – are balking at new rules removing their exemption from onerous authorisation by the financial regulator (MFSA) to act as company officers. The pressure on Malta to tighten up its corporate governance rules by the Council of… Read More

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