Category: banks

New India Cooperative Bank former GM in police custody for fraud allegations

On Sunday, Mumbai Police arrested Dharmesh Paun, private developer from Kandivali, in connection with the New India Cooperative Bank scam (NICB). According to the police, Paun allegedly received illicit funds from the bank’s General Manager and Account Head, Hitesh Mehta, who was also arrested Saturday. The scam was uncovered during an audit at the bank’s headquarters in Prabhadevi last Wednesday, when RBI officials discovered funds missing from the vault. Mehta, who has been with the bank since 1988, reportedly confessed…

TD’s chief compliance officer departs amid US anti-money laundering probe

TD Bank’s (TD.TO), opens new tab chief compliance officer has left the bank, according to a memo sent internally, at a time the Canadian lender faces U.S. regulators and the Justice Department in a probe related to its anti-money laundering program. Monica Kowal, who joined the bank in 2017, left the company this week, and will be replaced by Deputy Chief Compliance Officer Erin Morrow who will report to Chief Risk Officer Ajai Bambawale, according the memo sent in late June, seen by…

TD Bank global anti-money laundering officer stepping down

TD Bank (TD.TO), opens new tab said on Thursday Chief Global Anti-Money Laundering Officer Herbert Mazariegos is stepping down immediately, as the bank takes remediation actions after it was fined by U.S. regulators for compliance failures. Mazariegos joined TD in November 2023 from Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), opens new tab, where he served as the chief anti-money laundering officer for over four years. He was hired as part of TD’s push to revamp its risk and compliance team. Mazariegos, hired while outgoing CEO…

Tax evasion: UBS / Credit Suisse to pay a $2.5 billion fine

UBS is reportedly preparing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve allegations that Credit Suisse violated a prior agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding U.S.-based customers who evaded taxes, according to the Wall Street Journal. In 2023, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee found that Credit Suisse, now owned by UBS, breached its 2014 plea agreement with U.S. authorities by continuing to assist ultra-wealthy Americans in tax evasion and concealment of more than $700 million from the…

Vanguard reaches deal with US bank regulator over control of bank stakes

Vanguard reaches deal with US bank regulator over control of bank stakes (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Friday it has struck a passivity agreement with Vanguard, to help the regulator better monitor the money manager’s interests in large banks. According to the deal, Vanguard is strictly prohibited from engaging in activities that influence the management or policies of institutions regulated by the FDIC, or their subsidiaries. Through “passivity agreements,” investors commit to regulators that they…

Vanguard strikes deal with FDIC over huge holdings in US banks, agrees to new oversight of its investments in some US lenders

Vanguard has bowed to regulatory pressure and agreed to new oversight of its investments in some US lenders, a decision that could have sweeping implications for money managers and banks. The deal, which the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp disclosed on Friday, will allow Vanguard’s funds to continue to be huge shareholders in a wide swath of the country’s banks while also increasing the watchdog’s supervisory power over the $10tn money manager. Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street have amassed large…

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to pay $15M following theft of millions from customers

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will pay a $15 million penalty as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to four financial advisers who stole millions of dollars of advisory clients’ and brokerage customers’ funds. The settlement announced late Monday is also related to the firm’s failure to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent and detect such theft. The SEC order said that MSSB failed to adopt and implement policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent…

US judge won’t lift block on rule capping credit card late fees at $8

(Reuters) – A federal judge in Texas on Friday rejected a request by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to lift an order that blocked a new rule capping credit card late fees at $8, a policy challenged by business and banking groups. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth declined to dissolve an injunction he issued in May that barred the rule from taking effect. That rule was issued as part of the Biden administration’s broader crackdown on “junk…

News groups sue Idaho prison leader for increased witness access to lethal injection executions

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Associated Press and two other news organizations are suing Idaho’s top prison official for increased access to lethal injection executions, saying the state is unconstitutionally hiding the actual administration of the deadly drugs from public view. The AP, The Idaho Statesman and East Idaho News filed the lawsuit against Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt in Boise’s U.S. District Court on Friday. The news organizations contend the public has a First Amendment right to…

Former Allianz fund manager spared prison time over $7 billion fraud

NEW YORK – A former Allianz fund manager was spared prison time on Friday over his role in a meltdown of private investment funds sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic that caused an estimated $7 billion of investor losses. Gregoire Tournant, 57, of Basalt, Colorado, pleaded guilty in June to two counts of investment adviser fraud. He agreed to give up $17.5 million in ill-gotten gains, including bonuses that were inflated by his fraud. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the…

McKinsey & Company Africa to Pay Over $122M in Connection with Bribery of South African Government Officials

McKinsey and Company Africa (Pty) Ltd (McKinsey Africa), which operates in South Africa as a wholly owned and controlled subsidiary of international consulting firm McKinsey & Company Inc. (McKinsey), will pay over $122 million to resolve an investigation by the Justice Department into a scheme to pay bribes to government officials in South Africa between 2012 and 2016. The guilty plea of a former McKinsey senior partner who participated in the bribery scheme was also unsealed. The Justice Department’s resolution…

Global financiers head to Saudi Arabia investment bash in shadow of war

Global financiers are poised to flock to Saudi Arabia’s annual flagship investment conference next week as a tightening of the kingdom’s purse strings and a deepening of regional conflict cloud the outlook. Among those expected to descend on the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh are top CEOs, including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and the London Stock Exchange’s Julia Hoggett. The high-profile event, first held in 2017, fills an opulent hotel in the capital…

TD Bank Fined for Crypto Ties with UK and Colombia

According to a report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Oct. 10th, TD Bank’s U.S. wing agreed to pay over $3 billion in penalties. The fine was for failing to properly monitor money laundering activities. The bank has also accepted limits on its future growth in the U.S. FinCEN found that TD Bank facilitated over $1 billion in transfers linked to two crypto exchanges — one based in the United Kingdom and the other in Colombia. TD Bank…

Massive U.S. fine against TD Bank highlights relatively modest penalties in Canada

TORONTO — The more than US$3-billion settlement TD Bank Group has reached with U.S. regulators for its failures to oversee money laundering risks has underlined what some say are relatively weak enforcement options in Canada. Denis Meunier, president of DMeunier Consulting Inc. and a former deputy director of Fintrac, said fines in Canada have to increase significantly to provide adequate deterrence and not become just a cost of doing business. He says the federal government should add substantial fines for…

TD Bank hit with US$3bn fine, pleads guilty to criminal charges

Canada-based financial institution TD Bank has announced its agreement to pay over USD 3 billion, pleading guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering in the US. As detailed by regulators, the fine follows TD Bank’s failure to appropriately monitor money laundering by drug cartels and other criminals, allowing them to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful funds. In addition, the bank did not enforce sufficient defences against money laundering for nearly 10 years. It did not efficiently…

Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison to be sentenced over crypto fraud

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison is set to be sentenced on Tuesday for her role in her imprisoned former boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried’s theft of about $8 billion in customer funds from the now-bankrupt FTX exchange he founded. Ellison has pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, and testified as a prosecution witness in the trial of Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud and other charges last year and is serving a 25-year prison…