A new Global Money Laundering Reporting Officer (GMLRO) and Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) have been appointed by crypto exchange Binance.
The new roles will be taken up by Kristen Hecht, who joined the company this year in January and was previously working as the Global Head of Corporate Compliance.
Hecht’s experience
Hecht has been working in financial crime compliance for about 17 years. She worked as a Senior Policy Advisor for the US Department of Treasury.
Some of her other roles included the Head of Financial Crime Compliance at HSBC China, the Chief Compliance Officer at Novi Financial, and the first crypto digital asset wallet project at Meta.
Noah Perlman, the CCO at Binance, said that thanks to her background, Hecht is aware of the importance of collaboration with international organizations and governments.
He added that this is essential to combat financial crime and make sustainable advancements. When she worked for the government, Hecht had helped in its efforts to combat illicit financial activity and terrorism.
During her time at HSBC China, she held the responsibility of bringing in the cultural change that was required to ensure a sustainable and effective compliance program.
The new hire
Hecht stated that similar to a new industry, she was aware that criminals would present significant challenges in their attempt to exploit global financial services, which include crypto digital asset services.
She went on to say that she would put her professional background to use to improve compliance controls for dealing with illicit actors.
In her new position at Binance as the Deputy CCO, she will now work with Perlman closely to help the crypto exchange in enhancing its compliance program.
She will also be overseeing money laundering teams in her position as GMLRO to help them in mitigating and identifying financial crime.
She is planning on helping in the development of compliance programs by engaging with industrial bodies, intergovernmental organizations, and regulators.
In the long term, her aim is to establish partnerships with industry bodies, regulators, and business partners for mitigating and identifying the risk of financial crime.
Binance’s issues
The world’s largest exchange in terms of trading volume has been in hot water recently with a number of global regulators, including those from the Netherlands, Germany, France, and the United States.
The exchange and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, have been hit with 13 charges in the United States by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Likewise, a lawsuit against Binance has also been filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), alleging that it offered unregistered derivatives in the country.
Binance has submitted a request for dismissing this lawsuit. In France, it is being investigated for money laundering.
The exchange was not able to obtain a license to operate as a Virtual Asset Service provider (VASP) in the Netherlands, due to which it terminated its operations in the country.
It has also decided to withdraw its application for getting a German crypto license.