New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS)

Recently, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (“ICBC”) entered into two consent orders. The first consent order is with the New York State Department of Financial Services (the “NYDFS”) for alleged deficiencies in the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (“BSA/AML”) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) compliance screening programs over the past several examination cycles, as well as alleged violations of sharing confidential supervisory information. As we will discuss, the NYDFS consent order finds that ICBC violated New York banking law by backdating internal certifications – not themselves required by statute or regulation – and then not immediately disclosing these “false entries” to the NYDFS.

ICBC also entered into an Order to Cease and Desist (“C&D Order”) with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (the “Federal Reserve”) for the alleged improper disclosure of confidential supervisory information, or CSI.  Generally, CSI is information relating to a regulatory examination or investigation, which cannot be disclosed without the agreement of the financial institution’s examining regulator – which here, of course, is the Federal Reserve.  As noted above, the NYDFS consent order also contains allegations of improper disclosure of CSI, which is also protected as confidential under New York banking law.  Ironically, the alleged disclosure of CSI was to the bank’s foreign regulator.

This is not the first time ICBC has had issues involving alleged BSA/AML deficiencies. In 2018, ICBC entered into a consent Cease and Desist Order with the Federal Reserve for similar BSA/AML deficiencies at its New York branch, about which we blogged here. Despite ICBC’s noted efforts in enhancing BSA/AML and OFAC compliance programs and promptly reporting the unauthorized disclosure of confidential supervisory information to the regulators, the bank was subjected to a $30 million civil money penalty from the NYDFS and another $2.4 million civil money penalty from the Federal Reserve.

Continue Reading  ICBC Agrees to Two Consent Orders for Alleged BSA/AML Deficiencies and Disclosure of Confidential Supervisory Information

On December 14, 2023, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) granted an unusual ex parte application to serve third-party discovery subpoenas on U.S.-based Deutsche Bank entities.  The subpoenas seek evidence to assist the Applicants’ ongoing litigation against Danske Bank, which is taking place in the City Court of Copenhagen.  The Court granted this ex parte application without prejudice to the ability of the U.S.-based Deutsche Bank entities to move to quash the subpoenas on the basis of such grounds as relevance and proportionality.

As we will discuss, this discovery action raises interesting questions about the ability of private parties to obtain very sensitive anti-money laundering (“AML”) materials from financial institutions for the purposes of advancing civil litigation (either against the subpoena recipient itself or another financial institution).  Likewise, this action highlights the bind which financial institutions and other businesses can face when private litigations attempt to obtain their prior, substantial responses to regulator and law enforcement document demands.

Continue Reading  SDNY Grants Ex Parte Applicants the Ability to Subpoena Deutsche Bank Entities as Part of Ongoing AML-Related Litigation Against Danske Bank

On September 29, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) entered into a consent order with Shinhan Bank America (“SHBA”), which imposed a $15 million dollar civil penalty against SHBA for allegedly willfully failing to implement and maintain an AML program that meets the minimum requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”), and for allegedly willfully failing to accurately and timely report suspicious transactions to FinCEN.

In its press release, FinCEN noted that, as a result of SHBA’s inactions, “tens of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions were not reported to FinCEN in a timely manner, including transactions connected to tax evasion, public corruption, money laundering, and other financial crimes.”

Working in collaboration with FinCEN, the FDIC also separately issued a civil penalty against SHBA in the amount of $5 million dollars – which FinCEN will credit toward its own fine, leaving an amount owed of $10 million dollars – and the NYDFS also issued a stand-alone civil penalty in the amount of $10 million dollars.

As we will discuss, this enforcement action involves several typical allegations by the government, including an alleged failure to file required SARs, prior regulatory problems, and insufficient AML compliance staffing and funding.

Continue Reading  FinCEN Issues $15 Million Dollar Civil Penalty Against Shinhan Bank America for Alleged Failure to Implement and Maintain Effective AML Compliance Program

We are pleased to offer the latest episode in Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Finance Monitor podcast series, A Look at the Treasury Department’s April 2023 Report on Decentralized Finance or “DeFi.” 

In this episode, we follow up and expand upon our blog post regarding the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s April 6, 2023 report examining vulnerabilities

On December 15, 2022, the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) published an Industry Letter detailing the Department’s guidance regarding banking organizations that wish to engage in virtual currency-related activities. Specifically, while the guidance reminds New York banking organizations, branches, and agencies of foreign banking organizations licensed by the Department (together, “Covered Institutions”) of the preexisting obligation to seek approval from the Department before engaging in new or significantly different virtual currency-related activity, the guidance describes the process and types of information that the Department considers relevant to its approval process.  The guidance is effective as of December 15, 2022, and was accompanied by a press release from NYDFS’ Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris.

For the purposes of the Industry Letter, “virtual currency-related activity” includes “all ‘virtual currency business activity,’ as that term is defined in 23 NYCRR § 200.2(q), as well as the direct or indirect offering or performance of any other product, service, or activity involving virtual currency that may raise safety and soundness concerns for the Covered Institution or that may expose New York customers of the Covered Institution or other users of the product or service to risk of harm.”  As we will discuss, any Covered Institution seeking NYDFS approval should focus in part on addressing the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”)/Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and Office of Foreign Asset Control (“OFAC”)-related risks posed by the virtual currency-related activity.

Continue Reading  NYDFS Releases Virtual Currency Guidance for Banking Organizations

Case Involves Familiar But Instructive Regulatory Findings

The New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) made clear last week that crypto companies can be held accountable for allegedly failing to comply with anti-money laundering (“AML”) / Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) regulations.  Federal and certain State laws require crypto companies like Robinhood Crypto, LLC (“RHC”) to maintain effective AML programs, and to implement systems to identify suspicious activity and block illegal transactions on their platforms (which we have previously discussed, including here and here).  On August 2, 2022, NYDFS announced that it entered a Consent Order penalizing RHC $30 million for alleged AML, cybersecurity and consumer protection violations.  RHC also is required to retain an independent consultant to perform compliance assessments evaluating the Company’s remediation efforts. 

This enforcement action is entirely consistent with the recent Guidance on Use of Blockchain Analytics issued by the NYDFS, directed to all virtual currency business entities that either have a NYDFS Bitlicense or are chartered as a limited purpose trust company under the New York Banking Law.  As we have blogged, the Guidance emphasizes “the importance of blockchain analytics to effective [AML] policies, processes, and procedures, including, for example, those relating to customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening.”

The Consent Order contains a litany of alleged AML deficiencies, many of which have figured prominently in other enforcement actions.  We detail them below.  From a BSA/AML perspective, the key focus – not surprisingly – was on the adequacy of RHC’s transaction monitoring systems.  Again, the message is:  written policies and programs may look great on their face, but actual execution is key.  The adequate funding and staffing of compliance functions is also critical.

Continue Reading  Crypto Compliance Matters: NYDFS Fines Robinhood $30M for Alleged AML, Cybersecurity, and Consumer Protection Violations

On April 28, 2022 the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) issued its Guidance on Use of Blockchain Analytics, a document directed to all virtual currency business entities that either have a NYDFS Bitlicense or are chartered as a limited purpose trust company under the New York Banking Law.  The Guidance emphasizes “the importance of blockchain analytics to effective policies, processes, and procedures, including, for example, those relating to customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening.”

The NYDFS is stressing the role of blockchain analytics in anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance because “virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ether can be transferred peer-to-peer directly from one individual or entity to another pseudonymously, absent the use of a regulated third party (e.g., between non-custodial wallets, or self-hosted wallets that allow users to maintain control of their private keys). . . . [T]hese wallet addresses are typically pseudonymous, with nothing on the face of the transfer tying back to the originator, beneficiary, or underlying beneficial owners.”

Given the potential compliance challenges presented by such characteristics, the NYDFS wants virtual currency entities to leverage the fact that virtual currencies also enable provenance tracing because “the blockchain ledger’s immutability typically allows a historical view of a virtual currency transmission between wallet addresses, providing the opportunity for greater visibility into transaction lineage than is typically found with traditional, fiat funds transfers.”

The Guidance provides that, ultimately, all risk mitigation strategies must account for an entity’s business profile to assess risk across types of virtual currencies and effectively address the specific characteristics of any particular virtual currency involved.  If a virtual currency entity chooses to outsource its control functions to third-party service providers rather than use only internally developed blockchain analytics, it must have “clearly documented policies, processes, and procedures with regard to how the [third-party] blockchain analytics activity integrates into the [entity’s] overall control framework consistent with the [entity’s] risk profile.”
Continue Reading  NYDFS Stresses Use of Blockchain Analytics for AML Compliance by Virtual Currency Businesses

The New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS” or “the Department”) published a press release on February 24, 2022 announcing the issuance of a Consent Order (“the Consent Order”) to the National Bank of Pakistan (“NBP” or “the Bank”), which will require the Bank to pay $35 million in penalties to NYDFS.  In conjunction with the Department’s enforcement action, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”) also announced a $20.4 million penalty against NBP for its alleged Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) violations.

The Consent Order describes NBP as a “multinational commercial bank incorporated in Pakistan in 1949 that is majority owned by the Pakistani government, with more than $20 billion in assets as of June 30, 2021.”  The Department’s issuance of the Consent Order marks the first major fine against a bank since Adrienne A. Harris was confirmed as New York’s top financial regulator (Superintendent of NYDFS) in January 2022.  In November 2021, while still leading the Department on an acting basis, Harris issued a consent order to Dubai-based Mashreqbank for sanctions violations requiring the bank to pay $100 million in penalties.

As we will discuss, the Department’s and the NYFRB’s actions sends a clear message confirming that repeated findings of violations over multiple examinations is a sure-fire way to become subject to enforcement.
Continue Reading  National Bank of Pakistan Fined $55.4 Million for Alleged Repeated AML and Compliance Deficiencies

First Post in a Two-Part Series

Recent actions in the crypto realm demonstrate that authorities and regulators have not slackened their commitment to applying and enforcing Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) laws and regulations in the crypto industry.  These actions serve as reminders that not only is the government keeping a close eye on cryptocurrency, but its oversight and enforcement can and will come from many angles. What’s more, the government’s recent various proactive and reactive compliance efforts relating to cryptocurrency illustrate the policy principles behind its compliance initiatives from the theoretical to the stark, real world consequences they are intended to avoid.

In this post, we address recent major developments across a spectrum of regulatory, civil, and criminal enforcement cases involving cryptocurrencies, AML and money laundering – courtesy of the combined efforts of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”), and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In our next post, we will discuss a 30-page Guidance just issued today by FinCEN, entitled “Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Certain Business Models Involving Convertible Virtual Currencies” – which was accompanied by a 12-page FinCEN Advisory entitled “Advisory on Illicit Activity Involving Convertible Virtual Currency.”
Continue Reading  Update: Government Enforcement in the Cryptocurrency Space

UK-based Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”) announced the terms of significant settlements last week with various U.S. and U.K. governmental agencies, resolving a series of related investigations into the bank’s alleged violations of international sanctions and concomitant failures of anti-money laundering (“AML”) controls over a period stretching from 2007 to 2014. The bank will pay a total of $1.1 billion in combined forfeitures and fines to various national and state agencies in the two countries — and extend, once again, its deferred prosecution agreements (“DPAs”) with the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the New York County District Attorney’s Office (“NYDA”).

Specifically, the bank will pay: a $480 million fine and a $240 million forfeiture to the DOJ; approximately $639 million to the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”); over $292 million to the NYDA; almost $164 million to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and $180 million to the New York Department of Financial Services.  The bank also will pay over £102 million (an amount approximately equal to over $133 million) to the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”).  After certain payments are credited against some of these penalties, the total will exceed $1 billion.

Continue Reading  Standard Chartered Bank Enters Combined $1 Billion+ Settlement with U.S. and U.K. Authorities Over Iranian Financial Transactions