FATF: Casinos Must Comply with Due Diligence Rules
The Financial Action Task Force held a plenary meeting in Berlin from June 18-20; primary on the agenda were revisions of the Forty Recommendations against money laundering.
In a press release, the organization stated that for the first time, due diligence obligations will be put in place for both financial and non-financial groups.
One specific non-financial group mentioned is casinos, which must comply with due diligence and record-keeping requirements when their customers engage in financial transactions equal to or above a certain threshold.
Switzerland on the Blacklist?
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said recently that Switzerland may be in danger of getting placed on its blacklist due to its tax practices.
The OECD is saying that Switzerland, which has a long-held reputation as being a business-friendly jurisdiction because of its low taxes, is too tolerant of harmful tax practices.
Placement on the OECD blacklist of uncooperative jurisdictions would have no legal effect on Switzerland but may be a blemish on its business reputation. Swedish Finance Ministry representative Daniel Eckman said the possibility of a blacklisting is "not acceptable."
"We have big difficulties understanding how after five years of discussions about what should be considered a harmful tax practice, the forum comes up with a report that considers Switzerland the only country in the whole OECD with harmful aspects in its tax legislation," he said.
Bulgaria Nixes Gambling Industry Entry Barriers
Bulgaria is aiming to change its gambling laws in order to help investors from European Union countries get into its gambling industry.
Snezhana Koleva, a representative of Bulgaria's Finance Ministry, said the requirement that specifies that a foreign company seeking to enter the industry must form an association with a native firm will be repealed.
Foreign investors will also no longer be required to buy or rent a four-story hotel or create 500 jobs.
UK Small Businesses Protest E-Commerce Fraud Liability
The United Kingdom's Federation of Small Businesses is calling for issuing banks to be responsible for paying for Internet fraud instead of Internet merchants being responsible for it.
The group says the high occurrence of online fraud, which often consists of someone using a stolen credit card to buy something online, is a threat to e-commerce. According to Outlaw.com, Internet fraud costs British merchants £28 million per year, a far jump from the £3.8 million it cost in 2000.
John Walker, policy chairman of policy for the FSB, said business need clarification about where responsibility for fraud lies.
"Businesses are confused over what authorization means," he said. "When a transaction takes place over the Internet, credit card authorization is not a payment guarantee, it only indicates that the card has not been reported lost of stolen and there are sufficient funds available in the cardholder account."
Anne Lindner
reporter
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