Mainland Chinese Rush to Open HK Accounts as Beijing Tightens Grip on Outflows
Chinese investors are hurrying to open bank and brokerage accounts in Hong Kong as Beijing escalates a crackdown on cross-border capital flows, fueling concerns that mainland access to the financial hub could narrow.
FINMA Issues New AML Guidance after Finding Firms Are Mishandling Risks
Switzerland’s financial markets regulator published supplementary guidance on money laundering risk analysis Wednesday, flagging persistent weaknesses in how banks and other financial institutions define risk tolerance and assess inherent risks.
Swiss Prosecutors Raid Gunvor’s Geneva Offices in Bribery Probe
Swiss prosecutors raided the Geneva offices of commodity trader Gunvor as part of a criminal investigation into suspected bribery of foreign public officials, dealing a fresh blow to the company’s efforts to rehabilitate its reputation following a series of prior corruption convictions.
FCA Sees Industry Weaknesses in Sanctions Due Diligence, Trade Compliance
Financial firms have improved their sanctions controls but persistent weaknesses in due diligence, screening, and asset-freezing controls continue to drive compliance violations, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in a multi-firm review published Thursday.
Hong Kong Is Now the World’s Largest Hub of Offshore Wealth
Hong Kong has surpassed Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth-management center for the first time, driven by a surge of investment from mainland China.
CFTC Probes $800mn in Oil Trades Made Before Trump’s Iran Announcement
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating a surge of more than $800 million in oil futures trades that occurred moments before President Trump announced on social media that he was postponing strikes on Tehran’s energy infrastructure.
A Tiny NZ Company Processed $350mn for Crooks and Risky Clients
A tiny New Zealand financial services firm processed millions of dollars in transfers for high-risk clients including a convicted U.S. fraudster, a Belarusian oligarch close to Aleksandr Lukashenko, and a British man later convicted in Europe’s “cum-ex” tax fraud.
FATF Sees Progress, Gaps, and Growing Risks in Latest Singapore MER
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Singapore from its enhanced follow-up list but the city-state’s beneficial-ownership safeguards, money-laundering prosecutions, and proliferation-financing controls are still falling short of the risks it faces as one of the world’s largest financial centers.
Leader of $140mn ‘Faith-Based’ Ponzi Scheme Charged with Wire Fraud
The founder of a Newnan, Georgia-based lender that marketed faith-based investments to conservative audiences was charged with felony wire fraud on Thursday, escalating a civil fraud case into a criminal prosecution nearly a year after regulators shuttered what they described as a $140 million Ponzi scheme.
Suspicious Trades Have Become a Hallmark of Trump’s Second Term
Unusual bursts of trading across oil, equities, and prediction markets repeatedly appeared shortly before some of President Donald Trump’s most market-moving public statements.