By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
AMERICANS who own property in Mexico face new restrictions due to fentanyl sanctions, according to new FinCEN guidance.
The organization, the AML (anti-money laundering) unit of the U.S. Treasury Department, issued advice regarding fentanyl sanctions applied to three Mexican banks. The lenders are CIBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa.
FinCEN said Americans who own homes in Mexico and bank with one of these lenders can no longer send money from U.S. banks to property manager’s accounts at one of the three sanctioned lenders.
An FAQ from FinCEN said: “We own a home in Mexico and bank with Intercam, and so we transfer money to the account of our property manager held at Intercam. Can we continue to do this?”
In response, the new FinCEN guidance said: “The orders prohibit covered financial institutions from engaging in transmittals of funds to or from Intercam, CIBanco, or Vector.
“[This] includes any transmittal of funds to or from an account held at any of those three institutions.”
However, it said if Americans have both an account and and a property manager’s account at one of the three sanctioned lenders, transfers are still permitted. This is as long as the transaction stays entirely within the sanctioned lender.
“The orders do not prohibit individuals with accounts at one of the three financial institutions (e.g., Intercam) from engaging in intrabank transmittals of funds to or from accounts within the same financial institution,” FinCEN said.
US sanctions Mexican banks
The U.S. sanctioned the three firms for alleged involvement in money laundering linked to fentanyl. All three firms deny the money laundering allegations.
Experts said the move, although targeting relatively small institutions, could have significant impact on Mexico’s financial system. This is due to the interconnectedness between banks and the close business relationship with the U.S.
The FinCEN sanctions do not block property or cut off all global dollar-based activities of the Mexican firms as other Treasury sanctions would. However, they do prohibit U.S. transactions with their locations in Mexico.
The sanctions will come into effect from September 4. FinCEN said the measures “do not currently have any expiration date”.
We hope you enjoyed reading this article
If you would like unlimited access to AML Intelligence premium articles, newsletter delivered twice a week, access to our Global Bank Fines and Penalties database, free access to Boardroom Series events and much more, select one of our subscription options and become a subscriber!
