Hong Kong fines DBS US$1.28 million over breaching anti-money laundering rules

HONG KONG: The Hong Kong unit of DBS Community Holdings, Singapore’s most animated lender, changed into fined HK$10 million (US$1.28 million) by Hong Kong’s banking regulator for violating anti-cash laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing rules.

The disciplinary action comes after an investigation carried out by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which looked into adjust screw ups of DBS Bank (Hong Kong) between April 2012 and April 2019, the regulator talked about in an announcement on Friday (Jul 5).

The scrutiny by Hong Kong resembles that of rival wealth centre Singapore, which a three hundred and sixty five days ago fined four financial establishments over AML breaches, alongside with DBS.

The financial institution failed to persistently video show alternate relationships and conduct enhanced due diligence in excessive possibility conditions. DBS changed into also found to have failed to retain recordsdata on a pair of of its potentialities, in accordance with the HKMA.

“The HKMA requires banks to set aside in quandary efficient customer due diligence measures to fight cash laundering and terrorist financing,” Raymond Chan, executive director of the HKMA talked about in the statement.

“DBS Hong Kong takes our AML obligations seriously and accepts HKMA’s resolution,” a DBS Hong Kong spokesman talked about in an announcement to Reuters.

The factors at hand were sporadic and historical in nature having occurred between April 2012 and April 2019, the spokesman talked about, adding that the financial institution has utilized original community insurance policies over time to continue to detect and position up original cash laundering practices.