The Economist continues to report critically on US regulatory pressure abroad and possible double standards.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), part of America’s Treasury, [has] rescinded a devastating finding against a European bank suspected of facilitating money-laundering. The withdrawal, less than a year after the designation, looks like a climbdown. …

Some suspect the bank was a pawn in a tussle between governments: miffed that Andorra was slow to adopt American-style anti-money-laundering rules … America decided to show who was boss by selecting a bank to pick on. There is some evidence to support this sacrificial-lamb theory. … an American diplomat suggested that America chose to “use the hammer” on BPA as a way of resolving wider concerns about Andorra. …

These cases highlight two problems with FinCEN’s money-laundering cudgel. The first is double-standards. It tends to go after only small banks in strategically unimportant countries … The second is its lack of openness. It faces no requirement to make detailed evidence public, or even available to a court, at the time of action. By the time any challenge is heard, it may be too late for the bank in question.