Understanding Beneficial Ownership Key To Catching Money Launderers, Dominions Caruso Says

Financial institutions will likely expand their services for immigrants--regardless of their legal status—despite backlash from anti-immigrant groups and lawmakers, banking professionals say. Bank of America said in February that it is issuing credit cards to immigrants in Los Angeles who may not have Social Security numbers as long as they can provide other identification, such as documentation issued by the Mexican consulate.

On May 24, 2006, Hewlett-Packard's director of ethics sent out an internal memo stamped "Attorney-Client Privileged" that contained 12 pages' worth of detective work that would make any sleuth stand proud.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Think you're immune from government scrutiny into your private bank accounts? Think again.

Consumers who deviate from their normal pattern of banking with a transaction worth $5,000 or more could find themselves under the microscope by federal regulators as possible terrorists or money launderers - even if their action was as innocent as suddenly paying off a credit card bill or receiving a sudden inflow of cash to buy a car.

Suspicious activity report filings are on the rise for the third year in a row, according to a Jan. 30 report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The total volume of SARs filed by depository institutions during the first half of 2006 increased 11% — to 279,703 — compared with the same period in 2005, according to FinCEN, the Treasury Department unit that collects SAR data.

A number of class actions in New York have the potential to redefine how far banks have to go to vet customers for potential ties to terrorism around the world. The plaintiffs, family members of victims of attacks in Israel, argue that three foreign banks with U.S. branches should have known to block transactions involving certain charities because they were on other countries' terror watch lists.

The Democratic takeover of Congress, a recent reprimand from an international anti- laundering group, and high-profile bank fines are causing regulators and financial institutions to take a closer look at shell companies this year.

Once largely an issue only overseas, such companies have grown in numbers domestically over the past few years.

To uncover flaws in their anti-money-laundering systems before regulators do, more banks are forming financial intelligence units.

These units monitor, mine, and analyze bank transactions with the goal of detecting a problem early and seeing to it that any issue is self-reported and corrected promptly, which could help avoid negative publicity and a reputation-crushing fine.