Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) updates are on a continuous rise with the digital shift countries are taking action against illegal activities through fines and regulations. Let’s have a look at what has been up the past week:
$48.1 million in fine to be paid by the largest financial services group, DNB for failing to adhere to the Norwegian Anti-Money Laundering Act
Dated: 05.05.21
An inspection of the DNB’s AML practices and handling of customer accounts for Icelandic fisheries company, Samherji. The investigation revealed serious breaches in the bank’s compliance with the AML act, making the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet) impose fines on them.
European Banking Authority (EBA) is setting up a centralized database to name and shame financial institutions that fail to fight money laundering
Dated: 10.05.21
The EBA, which is responsible for creating a single rulebook for bank regulation in the EU, said the new database would be a “key tool” for coordinating the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The authority is proposing to collect and store information on banks that demonstrate “weaknesses” in their AML efforts. It will also contain information on the measures that national regulators are taking to crack down on institutions that perform poorly in relation to AML.
South Korea to introduce the “Amendment to the Electronic Finances Act” for the purpose of reviewing and approving new cryptocurrencies
Dated: 11.05.21
The legislation will create a committee under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) with an aims to prevent people from investing in fraudulent cryptocurrencies as well as impose more responsibility on cryptocurrency exchanges to protect investors, such as requiring the exchanges to undertake external audits and to report the results to the government.
New fines imposed for Anti-Money Laundering failings by the European Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Dated: 12.05.21
The FCA has reduced the fines from £236,740 to £178,000 for avoiding serious financial hardships for financial crime control and AML failings. This fine comes amid a wave of recent AML enforcement action, including the FCA’s first criminal proceedings under the Money Laundering Regulations and much larger fines being imposed on European banks for AML failings, as well as talk of creating a centralised database of AML weaknesses identified in firms in the EU.
Citibank and DBS fined by the Taiwan FSC for AML violations
Dated: 14.05.21
Citibank Taiwan and DBS Taiwan are fined TWD 10 million and TWD 6 million respectively for AML violations. Citibank’s penalty is the highest ever imposed on a domestic bank, for failing to set up a sound mechanism for evaluating clients’ risk of money laundering and for detecting suspicious transactions. The bank took into account the parent companies' regulations based in the US but failed to consider the domestic regulations of Taiwan.
$1 million in fine to be paid by a Swiss Private Bank for breaching Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) rules
Dated: 15.05.21
The Singapore branch of the Swiss private bank, Bank J. Safra Sarasin (BJS) has been charged with dealing with high-risk personal without taking the right action. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said BJS committed “serious breaches” of these requirements, due to “material lapses” in its control processes during customer on-boarding and the bank’s ongoing monitoring of business relations with customers. The bank will face fines worth $1 million for breaching the regulations and missing out on customer due diligence.
Author Sara Singh Tak, Data Zoo Marketing Specialist
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Data Zoo is setting the new standard for identity verification. With over a decade of experience, we have helped top global organisations reduce risk and verify their customers. Our innovative global solutions utilise independent; government, credit, utility, and commercial data sources to provide clients with industry-leading match rates and unparalleled response times.
