July 2016
Last month, Treasury announced that it had designated North Korea as a “primary money laundering concern.” As a result of the designation, FinCEN issued a proposed rule that would effectively cut off non-US banks that transact with North Korea from accessing the US financial system.
While US regulations prohibit US banks from transacting with North Korean financial institutions, the proposed rule goes a step further and prohibits non-US banks that conduct any business with North Korea from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts in the US.
This Financial crimes observer analyzes the recent sanctions against North Korea and provides our view on what banks should be doing now.