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Latvia-based bank Signet Bank has been fined €906,610 by the country’s financial regulator for anti-money laundering (AML) breaches.
The Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) carried out an on-site inspection of the bank.
It found breaches and deficiencies related to inappropriate internal control systems, customer risks, and risk management.
Signet Bank had failed to conduct due diligence on owners of certain accounts. FCMC also claims the bank didn’t verify the financial means of its customers or obtain correct documentation.
FCMC also charges the bank with failing to classify individual customers as shell companies in line with the AML regulatory requirements.
Explanations from the Signet Bank management failed to provide the watchdog with assurance “that the bank had fully understood the nature of irregularities”.
The fine represents 10% of Signet Bank’s total annual turnover.
Founded in 1992 as Latvijas Biznesa Banka, Signet Bank is a private bank and subsidiary of Signet Asset Management. The bank’s tagline is “prosperity loves discretion”.
“The FCMC’s decision to enforce a fine is certainly not pleasant news for the bank,” says CEO Roberts Idelsons.
“We know that even minor flaws may lead to penalty sanctions in today’s tightly regulated financial system.
“We wish to underscore that this decision by the FCMC concerns procedural flaws in our internal control system, and does not establish any actual cases of sanctions violation of laundering of proceeds from criminal acts.”
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