Payment Processors

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.

A former Austrian intelligence official was convicted Wednesday of spying for Russia in the largest espionage trial in Austria’s postwar history, delivering a verdict that officials hope will help repair the country’s standing as a hub of hostile foreign intelligence activity.

Jeffrey Epstein’s office relied on a dedicated team at American Express Co. to book travel for dozens of women, in some cases arranging sham itineraries designed to help them obtain visas.

Epstein’s Centurion relationship manager and more than a dozen American Express colleagues booked, canceled, and rebooked flights for women whose travel patterns and supporting documents two human-trafficking experts say should have raised red flags.

PayPal has agreed to forgo approximately $30 million in transaction fees to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into whether the financial services company unlawfully favored minority-owned businesses through a funding initiative launched in 2020.

German authorities have uncovered an alleged €300-million payments fraud that has drawn in former staff and executives at several payment companies, deepening the sector’s long-running crisis years after the collapse of Wirecard.

The Federal Trade Commission has warned four of the largest payment processors against denying customers access to financial services because of their political or religious views.