China's banks increase compliance spending amid global expansion

China’s biggest banks are beefing up their risk management and compliance programs, following a series of high-profile judicial investigations and regulatory probes in the United States and Europe, Reuters reports. These legal and regulatory headaches are likely to be a drag on their aggressive overseas expansion until suitable anti money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) controls are in place, bankers and compliance experts say, but they are taking action. A survey by LexisNexis Risk Solutions showed that about half expect to increase their compliance budgets by 20% or more this year, and the rest will raise it by a lesser amount.