The Rotterdam District Court has heard an appeal against fines imposed by the Dutch National Bank on a trust office.
The fines were of €593,750 and €10,000.
Some aspects of the appeal were upheld and the fines were reduced, but the court agreed with the KYC failings (including related to sanctions screening) and imposed revised fines of €534,375 and €9,000.
The Luxembourg financial services regulator, the CSSF, has today fined Banque Puilaetco Dewaay Luxembourg SA €15,000 for AML and sanctions compliance failings.
The penalty notice noted that the failing was “a temporary deficiency of the ongoing screening system of the client database against sanction lists”, and noted that the deficiency had since been remediated.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has issued a Decision Notice against Standard Chartered Bank including a fine of £102,163,200.
The fine related to KYC failings in general, with a focus on failure to conduct customer due diligence even in situations where sanctions red flags were evident. The FCA noted a lack of financial crime risk, and concerns as to the quality of the advice being given.
A particular focus were the UAE branches of the bank, and also export financing in relation to the export of military goods.
The Sanctions Commission of the French Banking Regulator (the ACPR) has published its decision from disciplinary proceedings against Raguram International.
Between 2015 and 2017, Raguram had failed to conduct KYC on its customers and failed to incorporate the lists of Eu sanctioned persons into its systems and controls framework.
At the time Raguram had not recognised that its controls environment was defective, but it had subsequently implemented stricter policies and procedures and purchased a compliance solution.
As a result of these steps no fine was imposed.
OFSI has today imposed a £10,000 penalty on Travelex Limited in relation to a £204 transaction involving the funds of a designated person.
This penalty is factually related to the same transaction as was the subject of OFSI’s first penalty.
While the fine itself is very small, that OFSI has imposed a fine in relation to such a small transaction is perhaps itself of significance.
The UK’s Official of Financial Sanctions Implementation has today imposed its first financial penalty.
The penalty relates to a single transaction of £200 relating to funds of a designated person under the Egyptian sanctions.
The bank, Raphaels Bank, self reported to OFSI.
The initial fine was £10,000 reduced to £5,000 in acknowledgment of the self-reporting.
The ACPR in France has today announced the imposition of a fine of €50m against Banque Postale.
This is the largest fine imposed in France to date.
The fine was imposed for sanctions compliance failings and in particular the ability of designated persons to transfer funds through Banque Postale, even when not a customer, by “money order”.
Banque Postale has indicated an intention to appeal the fine.
The Luxembourg financial services regulator, the CSSF, has today imposed a a fine of €55,000 on ANF Luxembourg SA for AML and sanctions compliance failings.
The penalty notice noted failings in compliance in relation to UN sanctions, but does not specify which regime was implicated.
The District Court of Rotterdam has upheld fines of €170,000 imposed by the Dutch National Bank on a payment services provider for breaches of Dutch sanctions law and AML rules.
The appeal was largely based on arguments that the internal compliance function had adequately performed its function. The court was highly critical of this argument, noting the lack of due diligence and periodic training.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has today issued a Final Notice against Canara Bank.
The bank was fined £896,100 and prevented from accepting deposits from new customers for 147 days.
The fine relates to inadequacies in the bank’s KYC compliance including sanctions screening. The bank cooperated with the FCA and qualified for a 30% discount on the fine.
