More than a third of bankers say they expect to spend more money on their Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering programs over the next year, according to a new benchmarking survey by the consulting firm RSM.

Chief compliance officers find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place when reporting AML violations.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today further expanded the scope of its geographic targeting orders temporarily requiring certain U.S. title insurance companies in specified areas to identify the individuals behind companies used to conduct high-end, all-cash real estate transactions.

In a comment letter to the Treasury department yesterday, ABA provided extensive feedback on several Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulations that could be eliminated, modified or streamlined to reduce the compliance burden on banks in response to an executive order issued by President Trump earlier this year.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin yesterday, a group of bipartisan lawmakers urged Treasury to prioritize policy changes that would increase coordination between regulatory agencies conducting bank examinations to help reduce the compliance burden on financial institutions.

The regulatory framework put in place to prevent money laundering and stop the financing of terrorist activity should be updated to reflect the changes that have taken place over the past several decades, banker Lloyd DeVaux, president and CEO of Sunstate Bank in Miami, Fla., said today in a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee.

The heads of the regulatory agencies are expected to endorse various proposals for regulatory relief tomorrow in a hearing in the Senate Banking Committee.

At its third annual Law Enforcement Awards ceremony today, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network recognized several state and federal law enforcement agencies for their work using information reported by financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act in their criminal investigations.

Strong hiring practices and savvy system management help smaller institutions keep pace with evolving AML regulations.