On April 17, 2012, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS issued final regulations and a revenue procedure implementing the final regulations regarding the reporting requirements for interest that relates to deposits maintained at U.S. offices of certain
financial institutions and is paid to certain nonresident alien individuals. These regulations will affect commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, securities brokerages, and insurance companies that pay interest on deposits.

Bruce Zagaris appeared on Al Jazeera yesterday to give an interview on the trial of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik.  The video clip for the interview can be found here.

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On April 12, 2012, the Israeli media reported that Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer is considering asking the cabinet to reach a tax agreement with the United States to calm Israeli banks about strict new U.S. tax regulations on Americans living abroad.

On April 15, 2012, in response to growing bilateral and multilateral dialogues on citizen security, the U.S. President Barrack Obama and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced on the margins of the VI Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, that they agreed to deepen coordination of ongoing security cooperation activities throughout the hemisphere and West Africa. Both presidents agreed to formalize this coordination in the form of a U.S.-Colombia Action Plan on Regional Security Cooperation.

IELR editor-in-chief Bruce Zagaris has written an article for Tax Notes International, titled U.S. Senate’s Passage of Anti-Tax-Haven Provisions Would Be Counterproductive.  Read the full article here.

On April 11, 2012, the European Commission issued a report on the application of Directive 2005/60/EC on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing.

On April 10, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Britain can extradite five suspects to the United States to face terrorism charges.  The individuals had challenged the extradition by claiming that life imprisonment in a U.S. maximum security facility amounted to a violation of their human rights. The conditions in U.S. prisons, according to the ECHR, did not constitute inhumane or degrading treatment.  

On April 5, 2012, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a cease and desist order against Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its underlying regulations.

The order requires the bank to take comprehensive corrective actions to improve its BSA compliance program.