Bank Of Valletta Slapped With Massive €2.6 Million Fine Over Money Laundering Breaches
Bank of Valletta has been hit with a massive €2.6 million fine by Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit over breaches of money laundering legislation.
The administrative fine was announced by the FIAU this morning. According to the financial crime watchdog, the bank failed to properly determine the ownership of 2,442 of its corporate customers, rendering it “unaware” of who it was ultimately servicing.
The lack of knowledge about clients did not necessarily mean that any of them were involved in money laundering or terrorist financing, though it is still a breach of the law.
A lack of transparency in Malta’s banking sector was one of the concerns raised by the Financial Action Task Force, which placed Malta on its list of countries requiring increased supervision in June.
The FIAU noted that basic identification details of some of these customers had been obtained through an exercise in June 2021, though much of the information remained incomplete.
Before this, the bank had incomplete beneficial ownership information on 1,298 customers and no information on an additional 1,144.
Responding to the fine, BOV said it had collaborated fully with the FIAU and took its responsibility towards regulators extremely seriously.
“There can be no excuse for a violation of CBAR reporting and this fine is a harsh but important reminder of the need for our systems to be flawless,” CEO Rick Hunkin was quoted saying.
The fine will not have any significant impact on the bank’s financial or capital position, it said.
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