Two banks fined under anti-money laundering laws

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank yesterday said it imposed penalties on two banks, amounting to Rs.3.0 million, during the second quarter, for not complying with the anti-money laundering laws.

The FIU, as the regulator for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) in the country, had imposed the penalties for not complying with the provisions of Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 06 of 2006 (FTRA).

Accordingly, a Rs.2 million penalty was imposed on Union Bank of Colombo PLC and a Rs.1 million penalty on DFCC Bank PLC.

“Penalties were imposed mainly on the violations of Financial Institutions (Customer Due Diligence) Rules, No. 1 of 2016 in relation to the United Nations sanctions screening, ongoing scrutiny of transactions undertaken throughout the course of the business relationship with a customer, establishing and maintaining procedures and systems to ensure the process of monitoring and implementing proper risk controls and mitigation measures,” a Central Bank statement said.