Dec 4 (Reuters) - Canada's anti-money laundering agency, the Financial Transactions and

Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), has signed a memorandum of understanding with three

U.S. federal banking agencies.

FINTRAC will exchange information with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Federal Reserve Board to ensure anti-money

laundering and anti-terrorist financing compliance in banks with cross-border operations, the

agency said in a LinkedIn post.

"The cooperation and communication between the authorities will allow for each agency to

effectively respond to emerging risks, enhance risk identification prevention and detection, in

an effort to mitigate ML/TF risk exposure," FINTRAC's post read.

The agency has stepped up monitoring following the Canadian federal government's expansion

of its national security powers.

FINTRAC imposed its biggest-ever penalty of nearly C$9.2 million ($6.54 million) on TD Bank

over non-compliance of anti-money laundering regulations earlier in the year.

In a first for the agency, in Dec. 2023 it fined two of the country's biggest banks Royal

Bank of Canada ( RY ), and CIBC, - for a total of about C$9 million for violations that

included failing to submit suspicious transaction reports.

($1 = 1.4058 Canadian dollars)