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The long-awaited rule is expected to require that real estate professionals such as title insurers report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Criminals have for decades anonymously hidden ill-gotten gains in real estate, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in March, adding that as much as $2.3 billion was laundered through U.S. real estate between 2015 and 2020. That debate has slowed down FinCEN's work on the real estate reporting rule, one of the sources said. PATCHWORKWhile banks have long been required to understand the source of customer funds and report suspicious transactions, no such rules exist nationwide for the real estate industry. FinCEN implemented GTOs in 2016 after the New York Times revealed that nearly half of luxury real estate was bought by anonymous shell companies.

Persons: Janet Yellen, Erica Hanichak, FinCEN, Jodi Vittori, Guo Wengui, Guo, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Howard, David Szakonyi, Luc Cohen, Chris Prentice, Amy Stevens, Michelle Price, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S . Treasury Department, FACT Coalition, Association, New York Times, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace, Nardello, Government, Office, George Washington University, New, Thomson Locations: New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chinese, Jersey, Manhattan

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Tuesday hit another batch of Wall Street firms with $549 million in civil penalties over widespread record-keeping failures related to employees' use of personal text messages and other messaging apps. Eleven firms, including Wells Fargo Securities and BNP Paribas Securities Corp, have agreed to pay $289 million in fines to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve the allegations. Regulators require broker dealers and investment advisers to keep certain work-related communications, but Wall Street dealers have increasingly used personal devices in recent years. Spokespeople for BNP, which agreed to pay $110 million to the regulators, and Mizuho, which agreed to pay $25 million to the SEC, declined to comment. The regulators have already fined units of JPMorgan Chase and Co (JPM.N), Barclays, Bank of America and others for similar record-keeping failures.

Persons: Wells, Société, Spokespeople, Gurbir Grewal, Chris Prentice, Susan Heavey, Nivedita Balu, Nupur Anand, Saeed Azhar, Bernadette Baum, Jason Neely Organizations: Wall Street, Wells, Wells Fargo Securities, BNP Paribas Securities Corp, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Futures Trading, BNP, Bank of Montreal, Wedbush Securities Inc, Wall, SEC, CFTC, Mizuho, Nikko Securities, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, Bank of America, Reuters, Thomson Locations: U.S, Wells Fargo, Nikko, New York, Washington, Toronto

A representation of the cryptocurrency is seen in front of Coinbase logo in this illustration taken, March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoNEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Coinbase Global (COIN.O) on Friday asked a judge to end the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit accusing the world's largest publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange of violating federal securities laws. Coinbase was sued by the SEC in June, and accused of operating illegally as a national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency without registering with the regulator. Firms are closely watching the litigation between the SEC and Coinbase, with some onlookers deeming it an "existential" clash. Coinbase leaned on the recent Ripple matter in Friday's filing, noting the SEC's lawsuit hinges on the type of transactions that the judge deemed outside of the regulator's jurisdiction.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Coinbase, Paul Grewal, Chris Prentice, Toby Chopra, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Securities, Exchange, SEC, Labs, Thomson Locations: Manhattan

An AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoBOSTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Massachusetts securities regulators have opened an investigation into the ways in which investment firms use artificial intelligence in their interactions with investors, citing concerns about the technology's potential unchecked use. Others who received letters included Tradier Brokerage, US Tiger Securities, E*Trade, Savvy Advisors and Hearsay Systems, according to a spokesperson for Galvin, a long-serving Democrat and prominent state securities regulator. "If deployed without the guardrails necessary to ensure proper disclosure and consideration of conflicts, I am concerned that this technology could result in harm to investors," Galvin said in a statement. The investigation came a week after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed requiring broker-dealers to eliminate possible conflicts of interest from the use of artificial intelligence on trading platforms.

Persons: Aly, Bill Galvin, Morgan Stanley, Galvin, Nate Raymond, Chris Prentice, Mark Porter, Andrea Ricci Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, BOSTON, JPMorgan Chase, US Tiger Securities, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Massachusetts, Boston, Washington

DWS said the resolution of allegations was a top priority but that it couldn't comment on timeframes or outcomes. Under Democratic leadership, the SEC has pledged to crack down on "greenwashing" and the inflating of ESG credentials to attract investors. DWS had earmarked civil litigation provisions of 8 million euros ($8.84 million) by the end of last year. DWS has been in settlement negotiations with Frankfurt prosecutors over a multi-million euro fine, one of the people said. Earlier in July, Reuters and other media reported that German prosecutors were investigating DWS' former CEO Asoka Woehrmann, who in the past has called allegations "unfounded".

Persons: DWS, Goldman Sachs, Asoka Woehrmann, Chris Prentice, Tom Sims, John O'Donnell, Louise Heavens, Susan Fenton Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, U.S, Deutsche Bank, Securities, SEC, Investigations, Democratic, Frankfurt, Reuters, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, Germany

The crypto industry is in a tug-of-war with the SEC and its Democratic chair Gary Gensler, who has described the crypto market as a "Wild West" riddled with fraud. Saying most crypto tokens are securities, the SEC has cracked down on crypto trading platforms, including the top U.S. exchange Coinbase, in an effort to bring the industry under its oversight. Crypto firms have long disputed the SEC's jurisdiction but until Thursday no court had supported that view. The two sources, for example, said firms are considering ways to use the Judge's ruling for their defense. However, she also ruled Ripple's direct sales of XRP to investors should have been registered as securities, handing the SEC a partial victory.

Persons: Coinbase, Gary Gensler, Robert Frenchman, Mukasey Frenchman, Analisa Torres, XRP, Crypto, Teresa Goody Guillén, Spokespeople, Binance, Carol Goforth, Stuart Alderoty, Philip Moustakis, Jody Godoy, Chris Prentice, Hannah Lang, Tom Hals, Michelle Price, David Gregorio Our Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Ripple Labs, Democratic, Mukasey Frenchman LLP, San Francisco, U.S, District, Baker, Hostetler, University of Arkansas, Reuters, Circuit, Seward, Washington , D.C, Thomson Locations: Mukasey, New York, Washington, New York , Connecticut, Vermont, Washington ,

July 11 (Reuters) - Bank of America on Tuesday agreed to pay $250 million in fines and compensation to settle claims the bank systematically double-charged customers fees, withheld promised credit card perks, and opened accounts without customer authorization. Consumers could not reasonably expect or understand they would be hit with $35 fees each time the bank declined to pay a single transaction, regulators said. In a statement, Bank of America said it voluntarily eliminated or reduced a range of fees last year. The accounts represented a "small percentage" of new accounts at the bank, regulators said. As a result of these industry leading changes, revenue from these fees has dropped more than 90 percent," Bank of America said in a statement.

Persons: Rohit Chopra, Rami Ayyub, Chris Prentice, Saeed Azhar, Jonathan Stempel, Emma Rumney, Michelle Price, Sharon Singleton, Emelia Organizations: Bank of America, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Currency, OCC, Thomson Locations: Charlotte , North Carolina

Violations were found in 25-50% of audits reviewed, depending on the audit standard at issue, the SEC said. "Marcum neglected its essential gatekeeper function in service to its own growth," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a statement. The SEC found the deficiencies were not limited to Marcum's SPAC clients. In addition to the civil penalty, settlement requires Marcum undertake remedial actions including hiring an independent consultant to review its policies procedures and to abide by certain restrictions when taking on new clients. Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Marcum, Nikola, Gary Gensler, Chris Prentice, Conor Humphries Organizations: Nikola, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, SPACs, Marcum, DraftKings Inc, Thomson

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