The documents, obtained by Buzzfeed and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, contain Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCen, between 1999 and 2017, according to CNBC.
Financial institutions are legally obliged to alert regulators when they detect any suspicious activity, such as money laundering or sanctions violations. Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Barclays, BNY Mellon and Societe Generale have all been identified in the documents.
The Institute for International Finance (IIF) voiced hopes that the findings would spur policymakers around the world into enacting urgent reforms to combat financial crime.
The FinCen leaks represent the latest in a series of scandals involving the global financial system, following the Panama Papers, 1MDB and the Luanda Leaks in recent years.
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