Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Dirty money has ‘metastasized’ within global banking system: regulator

Dirty money has ‘metastasized’ within global banking system: regulator

New York’s top financial regulator says banks and governments have allowed money laundering to “metastasize” inside the banking system and wrap itself “within the guts of financial institutions.”
In an opinion piece released days after the FinCEN Files investigation revealed sweeping failures by global banks to stop illicit money flows, Linda A. Lacewell, the superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, acknowledged that “insiders” have long known that the financial system is “awash with trillions of dollars in dirty money.”

Efforts in the United States and other countries to prevent banks from waving through illicit funds largely rely on a system of self-reporting. Financial firms are required to file “suspicious activity reports” whenever they spot transactions that may be linked to criminal conduct.

But these reports, known in shorthand as SARs, have “become a free pass for banks,” Lacewell wrote in the op-ed, published in Law360, a legal industry news publication.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, BuzzFeed News and other FinCEN Files reporting partners found that big banks often OK’d transfers of suspicious money but didn’t report these transactions to regulators until months or years later — after the money was long gone.

“I think what this set of articles did is put a spotlight on: ‘Is this system working?’” Lacewell said in an interview on Wednesday with ICIJ. “When you create something like ‘Well, here’s a form or document you must fill out under certain conditions,’ that can almost generate a false sense of security that ‘I’ve done what I need to do and everything is fine.’”

Because many big banks process global transactions through their offices and accounts in Manhattan, Lacewell’s state agency plays a big role in overseeing their operations and making sure they are working to combat money laundering. In July, for example, the agency forced Deutsche Bank to pay $150 million in penalties related to its banking relationships with convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and with two foreign banks involved in money laundering scandals.

Lacewell told ICIJ that many banks do more than just file SARs with FinCEN, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — they carefully vet customers and block tainted transactions.

But she is concerned that a lack of accountability can distort the risk-reward equation within banks.

“Individual bankers are rarely held accountable, so money laundering becomes a source of profits and bank fines become a cost of doing business,” Lacewell wrote. “When the profits exceed the fines, the business choice is easily corrupted.”

The FinCEN Files include more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports filed by banks and other financial firms with FinCEN, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. BuzzFeed News shared the cache of reports with ICIJ, which organized a team of more than 400 journalists from 110 news organizations in 88 countries to investigate banks and money laundering.

The team’s investigation revealed that many global banks have continued to profit from suspect transactions even after U.S. authorities fined them for earlier failures to stem flows of dirty money. In all, an ICIJ analysis found, the documents identify more than $2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 that were flagged by financial institutions’ in-house compliance officers as possible money laundering or other criminal activity.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×