HKMA Slaps Penalties on Three Banks for AML Failures
Hong Kong's banking regulator has taken disciplinary action against three lenders over deficient anti-money laundering controls.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has taken disciplinary action against Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Bank of Communications (BCOM) and BCOM’s Hong Kong subsidiary for deficient anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) controls, according to a statement.
For IOB, there were significant deficiencies in the transaction monitoring mechanism and management oversight of the bank’s AML/CFT controls. And for BCOM and BCOM (Hong Kong), there were omissions to load certain types of transactions into their shared monitoring system, affecting the ability to identify potentially suspicious activities.
HKMA issued a pecuniary penalty of HK$8.5 million ($1.1 million) on IOB, HK$4 million on BCOM (Hong Kong) and HK$3.7 million on BCOM. IOB was also reprimanded and ordered to conduct a review of past transactions as well as develop and implement a remedial plan to address contraventions.
