Five large financial institutions will create a single know-your-customer (KYC) utility to stop financial criminals, including launderers, arbitraging the banking system. DNB Bank, Danske Bank, Nordea Bank, Svenksa Handelsbanken and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken are committed to a cross-border approach, starting in the Nordic region, but which could become international.

Malaysia’s newly appointed attorney-general Tommy Thomas said on Wednesday there would be “no cover ups” as he promised to institute criminal and civil action over a graft scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).At least six countries, including the United States, Singapore and Switzerland, are investigating claims that $4.5 billion was siphoned
out of 1MDB, founded by former premier Najib Razak.

A set of best practices for anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-client (KYC) procedures has been launched by The Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), the financial industry trade association, and law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. In a report released on June 7, the two organisations outlined a number of developments that were needed to improve and
harmonise standards across the region.

Foreigners are buying and renovating luxury Sydney properties and paying in cash. Law enforcement agencies have warned the Turnbull government that foreigners buying homes with “suitcases stuffed with cash” could be laundering money likely connected to serious crime.

Latvia is investigating whether its banks acted as conduits for Russian funds used to interfere in elections and politics elsewhere, after it received a warning from the United States, officials have told Reuters.

Senior officials at scandal-plagued state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) withheld information from its board and took some decisions without the board’s approval, according to a Malaysian government audit of the fund that was declassified on Tuesday. Malaysia, under former Prime Minister Najib Razak, had classified the audit report in 2016 under the Officials Secrets Act when the fund’s financial troubles were being investigated.

Swiss authorities have raided several locations in Switzerland as they ramp up a criminal investigation into suspected money laundering connected to crimes involving Angola’s sovereign wealth fund and its central bank, prosecutors said on Friday. Switzerland’s Attorney General opened criminal proceedings in April in response to the reports connected with alleged offences involving assets held by the National Bank of Angola and the Fondo Soberano de Angola, the Angolan sovereign wealth fund, the prosecutors said in a statement.

As the compliance deadline for the U.S. Treasury Department’s customer due diligence and beneficial ownership rule arrived on Friday federal banking regulators clarified their expectations by releasing long-awaited examination guidelines. Meanwhile, bankers are bracing for run-ins with examiners as well as potential backlash from customers hesitant to share newly-required information.

Crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin at worst facilitate the financing of terror, money laundering and other criminal activities, said Axel Weber, chairman, UBS Group. They are open to abuse and Switzerland as a financial centre needs to be careful not to take risks, he told the bank’s annual general meeting.