Compliance Blog

Written by Shari R. Pogach, Regulatory Paralegal

During a recent speech, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), discussed the agency’s work in conjunction with government entities in Mexico to safeguard each country’s financial systems from criminal financial abuse. Shasky Calvery stated that Mexico and the United States share more than a border, they work together on multiple fronts “to disrupt the finances of transnational organized crime, including those organizations engaged in drug trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling.” The FinCEN director also noted that what happens in Mexico impacts the United States so it’s important that the authorities in both countries “understand what financial institutions on both sides of the border are experiencing.”

In September, Mexico’s president announced the Mexican government will no longer limit the monthly cash deposits of U.S. dollars that corporate clients of border banks can make provided such clients meet certain requirements.  The movement of currency across the U.S. border to Mexico continues to be an issue and this recent action by the Mexican government has elevated money laundering concerns.

NAFCU members can read more on FinCEN’s recent actions to combat criminal financial abuse in the October issue of the BSA Blast.  The issue reviews FinCEN’s guidance on financial activity that could signal red flags for human smuggling and human trafficking as well as the agency’s focus on money laundering activity across the U.S. border to Mexico and other Latin American countries.  The October edition also includes a BSA quiz that focuses on red flags for financial activity in connection with human smuggling and trafficking.  The quiz can be used in training for frontline personnel.