Swiss watchdog reprimands Bank SYZ for breaching money laundering rules

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“FINMA found that the bank did not make sufficient efforts to investigate the substantial growth in the client’s assets,” the watchdog said in a statement, adding it had also failed to clarify the client’s high-risk transactions. “The bank did not adequately resolve issues that should have raised suspicions.”

Bank SYZ said it had taken a number of measures to improve the systems it had in place.

“The bank attaches the utmost importance to compliance with its anti-money laundering obligations,” it said in an emailed statement. “Unfortunately, for a specific business relationship, the procedures put in place proved to be inadequate.”

FINMA noted the Geneva-based wealth manager had reported suspicions, which enabled criminal prosecutors to investigate the Angolan case. It said it would appoint an independent auditor to oversee the bank’s implementation of new compliance measures.