- Home/Publications/Money Laundering Bulletin
Contis fined €840,000 in Lithuania, in part for delegation but weak control of AML/CFT
Contis, part of the German banking-as-a-service fintech Solaris, must pay a €840,000 penalty after the Bank of Lithuania found it had breached anti-money laundering/counter financing of terrorism, as well as information security and business continuity risk management obligations, between 2021 and 2022.
Online Published Date:
02 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
Royal Bank of Canada fined C$7.5m for missed STRs and AML guidance flaws
First (or second, depending on metric used) largest lender in the country of its name, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) must pay C$7,475,000 (US$5,500,000) for breaches of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and associated regulations.
Online Published Date:
07 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce fined C$1.3m by FINTRAC for reporting failures
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), ranked fifth largest lender, by assets, in its home market, has paid a C$1,329,150 (US$978,780) administrative penalty to FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit (FIU), for two violations of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and linked regulations.
Online Published Date:
08 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
UK government sets up unit to combat Russian trade sanctions evasion
On 11 December [2023], the UK government announced that a new Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) will launch in "early 2024" with the aim of toughening enforcement and penalties against UK firms breaching, primarily currently, Russian sanctions.
Online Published Date:
12 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
Nasdaq pays US$4m over US sanctions crossed by ex-Armenian subsidiary
New York-headquartered Nasdaq, Inc, operator of stock exchanges around the world, has reached agreement with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) - to pay a civil penalty of US$4,040,923 - after its former wholly-owned subsidiary in Armenia processed trades for the Armenian branch subsidiary of Iran's Bank Mellat.
Online Published Date:
12 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
Coinlist pays US$1.2m to OFAC over Ukraine-Russia sanctions violations
Coinlist Markets LLC, a California, US-based cryptocurrency exchange, has settled with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to pay US$1,207,830 over potential civil liability for processing transactions for account-holders in Crimea between April 2020 and May 2022, which would have breached Russia/Ukraine sanctions.
Online Published Date:
14 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
EU lawmakers clinch deal on new AML Authority; add sanctions remit
European Union (EU) lawmakers have struck a political agreement on a proposal to set up an Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) at the centre of the bloc's future, more tightly harmonisedAML regulatory system.
Online Published Date:
15 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
OFSI report reveals lack of Russia sanctions enforcement action in UK
On 14 December the UK Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation's (OFSI) annual review landed, with, say Dr Susan Hawley and James Bolton-Jones, some alarming news. In the nearly two years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite UK£22.7 billion of assets frozen in relation to Russia, and a 200% staffing increase, there has been zero enforcement for post-February 2022 sanctions breaches in relation to Russia.
Online Published Date:
18 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
Drug money flows on par with legitimate trade earnings: UN nine-country study
Cross-border drug and migrant trafficking is booming with billions of dollars earned by crime networks, according to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.
Online Published Date:
21 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
EU bans diamond imports from Russia
The European Union (EU) has banned imports of diamonds from Russia, which amounted to €1.3 billion in 2022, because of the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Online Published Date:
21 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024
US community banks consent to FDIC AML findings
Brighton Bank, Tennessee and People's Bank, Indiana have escaped financial penalties but committed to extensive overhaul of their Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) programmes, according to consent orders published by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Online Published Date:
30 December 2023
Appeared in issue:
310 - 01 February 2024