New York Branch of Taiwan Bank Fined $180 Million for AML Failures
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August 2016- New York Branch of Mega International Commercial Bank, based in Taiwan, hit with a massive fine of $180 Million dollars due to failures in compliance with New York’s Anti-Money Laundering laws and regulations. This branch alone holds over $9 billion in assets. MICB has involvement with several high-risk countries for money laundering, including Panama.
Findings include the following:
- The BSA/AML officer for the New York branch, who was based at the bank’s Taiwan headquarters, and the branch’s chief compliance officer both lacked familiarity with U.S. regulatory requirements. In addition, the chief compliance offer had conflicted interests because she had key business and operational responsibilities, along with her compliance role.
- Compliance staff at both the head office and branch failed to periodically review surveillance monitoring filter criteria designed to detect suspicious transactions. Also, numerous documents relied upon in transaction monitoring were not translated to English from Chinese, precluding effective examination by regulators.
- The New York branch procedures provided virtually no guidance concerning the reporting of continuing suspicious activities; had inconsistent compliance policies; and failed to determine whether foreign affiliates had in place adequate AML controls.
Read the full article here: http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/press/pr1608191.htm
