Banks in dock for breaching anti-terror & dirty cash law
FEARS are growing banks are reverting back to their old ways after being hit with massive fines for flouting anti-terror and money laundering laws. Bank of Ireland was this week fined €3.15million after admitting to “significant failures” in fighting the crimes. In April, State-owned AIB was fined €2.3million for breaches relating to terror financing and money laundering while Ulster Bank was told to pay €3.3million for similar offences in November. Fianna Fail’s finance spokesman Michael Mcgrath said there again appears to be a “serious problem”. He added: “There appears to be a trend emerging suggesting compliance and governance are not up to scratch. “The Central Bank and the Minister must now assess whether this is a systemic issue and whether it applies to other areas of regulatory compliance.”
DILIGENCE
“If banks are not taking due diligence and anti-money laundering responsibilities seriously, the question must be what other areas of governance are they failing to adhere to? “The Central Bank again needs to be commended for taking a tough stance on these failures but it is yet another embarrassing development for the industry in a time where it is trying to recover its reputation. “If we want to stamp it out, the banks must do their job and report it as soon as it becomes known to them. “If the banks are to take their obligations seriously, they must allocate the necessary resources to investigate suspicious activity.” On Monday the Central Bank, which regulates all financial institutions here, revealed it identified 12 occasions where the Bank Of Ireland failed to enforce rules to combat money laundering and financing terrorism over three years from 2010. Its director of enforcement Derville Rowland said: “Such behaviour is unacceptable and falls far short of the standard expected of one of Ireland’s largest retail banks. “Reporting suspicious transactions to the authorities without delay is a fundamental component of an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework. “It is particularly disappointing that another large retail bank failed to submit six time-critical suspicious transaction reports to An Garda Siochana and the Revenue Commissioners promptly.”