Citi will resolve the conflicts between research and investment banking, file its financial reports sooner, allocate public offerings more fairly, project gains in pension funds more conservatively, treat stock options as an expense, and insist that structured transactions be more clearly disclosed.
Yet unless the remitters became embroiled in a serious crime, often involving drug money, Western lawmakers largely ignored them, focusing instead on trying to dam the river of dirty money that flowed through traditional banking channels--chiefly through the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, and later its amendments, which required banks to file reports of suspicious activity and high-dollar transactions, and to maintain information about account holders' identities.