Bank regulators revised an anti-money laundering examination manual. But government watchdogs said financial regulators are still not doing enough outreach to local law enforcement agencies to aid in the battle against terrorist funding and drug smuggling, reports Thomson Reuters WG&L Accounting & Compliance Alert.

For most U.S. trained attorneys, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that even the mere possibility of litigation should be disclosed somewhere in a company’s annual report, writes Jesse R. Morton of Thomson Reuters Westlaw Business Currents. (Click here for further information.) But for attorneys preparing an annual report for a foreign filer from a less litigious country – basically every other country – take note this 20F/40F season: companies are erring on the side of conservatism when it comes to litigation risk.

   By Steve Eder and Rachelle Younglai
   NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – Contrary to popular belief, Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> has a soul – and it is even spending time searching it.
   In the closing hours of Goldman’s marathon showdown with a Senate panel in Washington on Tuesday, Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein shared that the Wall Street giant is in the midst of an internal cleansing in which a top executive is leading a business practices committee and “going over everything.”

Just a few minutes after the Senate failed for a third time in as many days to reach the 60-votes needed to approve a cloture motion on the financial reform bill (failing 56-42), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rose to his feet and asked the chamber’s presiding officer: “Mr President, I now ask unanimous consent the motion to proceed to S 3217 be agreed to”.
After the president officer asked for objections, and heard none, he replied “Without objection, it is so ordered”, according to the Congressional Record, Reuters columnist John Kemp writes.

Full convergence of US and international accounting standards appears to be some way off, and while International Accounting Standards Board member Philippe Danjou is still aiming to achieve Plan A – meeting the G20 deadline of full convergence by mid-2011 – a compromise Plan B is clearly being prepared, John Manley writes.

Senators quizzing Goldman Sachs executives yesterday seemed at least as concerned about the wider ethical issues of investment banking as they did about the actual charges that the SEC has laid against Goldman, writes John Manley.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled another vote on financial reform later today, the fourth such vote in three days, as he tries to grind down opposition from Senate Republicans, writes Reuters columnist John Kemp.

Where the SEC goes, plaintiffs’ lawyers are sure to follow. But in the case of Goldman Sachs, they’ve charged ahead straight into the C-suite, alleging far broader levels of misdeed than the SEC’s limited charges surrounding an individual transaction, writes Erik Krusch of Thomson Reuters Westlaw Business Currents. (Click here for further details.) 

By Huw Jones
Credit rating agencies are back in the spotlight and, just like a year or two ago, for all the wrong reasons.

The UK’s Financial Services Authority has fined the London branch of Commerzbank AG £595,000 for failing to provide accurate transaction reports to the FSA.  To view the formal notice of the fine,  click here.