Regulators and Enforcement Actions are driving the agenda
In a world of ever-increasing regulation, scrutiny is honing in on financial crimes that include money laundering , terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, bribery and corruption, fraud and tax evasion. Demonstrating that a financial services organisation – whatever its size or scope – is working hard to meet its legal and regulatory financial crime obligations has become a compliance and commercial imperative.
Failure to meet financial crime obligations can result in severe penalties. Mid year analysis shows that by the end of July 2020, penalties have totaled $5.6 billion for non-compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know your Customer (KYC), and sanctions regulations.
Key findings are as follows:
- US authorities levied fines of over $900 million to an Israeli bank for tax evasion and money laundering involving the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
- Swedish banks were fined $536 million for lacking sufficient AML governance and controls in the Baltic states
- Malaysian regulators issued a significant fine to a major US headquartered global bank at $3.9 billion
- Fines issued by APAC regulators saw a dramatic increase from $3.5 million to almost $4 billion