Search Results for: Venezuelan
10 results out of 70 results found for 'Venezuelan'.
CONCERNS GROW ABOUT AML/CFT SYSTEMS BEING ABUSED FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES
International AML/CFT rules and guidance have been designed to help governments crack down on criminals and terrorists, but there are few guiderails to prevent states from abusing these tools to target political opponents. Given the membership of FATF and FATF-style regional bodies, and the Egmont Group of FIUs is practically universal, that means AML/CFT systems are available to authoritarian states.…
COMPLEX LAYERING TECHNIQUES CONSTANTLY REFINED BY SOPHISTICATED MONEY LAUNDERERS
Money launderers continue to develop layering techniques to insert criminal proceeds into legitimate financial transactions, and these typologies are becoming increasingly varied.
‘Cuckoo smurfing’ is one new technique attracting attention, for instance, said a briefing note from Australian FIU Austrac (1).…
VATICAN’S FIU RAIDED AND IN HOT WATER – BUT IS IT THE VICTIM OF CURIA POWER POLITICS?
The suspension for alleged corruption by senior officials at a financial intelligence unit (FIU), the cornerstone of any jurisdiction’s AML work, would be shocking. But if those suspensions were at the FIU of the world’s only purely theocratic state, such reports would sound like the work of thriller fiction.…
LATIN AMERICA’S PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT MARKETS REMAIN IN THE DOLDRUMS AS ECONOMIES PERFORM POORLY
IT has been another subdued year for the beauty and personal care product market in Latin America, as the region’s economy underperforms yet again after six years of deceleration (and in some countries outright recession), keeping a lid on sales growth. …
BANKS HAVE TO WORK HARDER TO AVOID SANCTIONS BREACH PUNISHMENTS
BANKS worldwide are having to take increasing care lest they be fined for violating sanctions and not having adequate regulatory compliance regimes in place. With the USA expanding sanctions against Venezuela and Iran, financial institutions need to not only have adequate screening software but anticipate potential new regulations and that regulators will be pouring over past activities.…
USA IMPOSES NEW SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA TO FORCE OUT MADURO
In a significant ramp up of its pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday (January 28) announced the imposition of new sanctions against the country’s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA).…
DUTCH CARIBBEAN UNDER SPOTLIGHT OVER MONEY LAUNDERING CONTROL WEAKNESSES
THE DUTCH Caribbean continues to have a weak reputation for fighting money laundering, and to a lesser extent terror financing, with the US 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) highlighting weaknesses in its three autonomous jurisdictions. See https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/268024.pdf
Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are ‘countries’ within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with their own prime ministers, while less populous islands Bonaire, St Eustatius (Statia) and Saba are municipalities, with fewer powers vested in their island councils, and the Dutch government being responsible for enforcing international anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) norms.…
SANCTIONS HOLD THE AML LINE AGAINST CORRUPT VENEZUELAN OFFICIALS GRAFTING COUNTRY’S EXTREME CURRENCY CONTROLS
AML compliance departments are having to take an increasingly close look at any transactions involving Venezuela, as its authoritarian government attracts increasingly large numbers of international sanctions.
The European Union (EU) in June sanctioned 11 senior Venezuelan officials following the May re-election of President Nicolas Maduro in polls that the EU said were “neither free nor fair and…lacked any credibility…”
The sanctions – see https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018D0901&from=EN…
VENEZUELA LAUNCHES OIL INDUSTRY CRYPTO-CURRENCY
THE VENEZUELAN government has launched a crypto-currency whose exchange rate is linked to global oil prices and which is backed by the country’s plentiful oil reserves.
The ‘Petro’ is the first state-backed virtual currency. Only the Venezuelan government can issue credits (it is ‘pre-mined’ in crypto-currency jargon).…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – CHINA SUGAR DUTIES CHALLENGED AT WTO
CHINA’S imposition of temporary safeguard duties to protect its sugar industry have been challenged at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), with sugar giant Brazil arguing Beijing’s tariffs break global commerce rules. In a signal that Brazil might be considering launching a disputes case against China, diplomats for the South American country told a WTO safeguards committee meeting that the duties broke the WTO agreement on safeguards and the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT). …