Latvijas Pasta Banka is the latest commercial bank in Latvia to be penalized for failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation, the national banking regulator informed Monday.

The regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission, slapped a fine of 305,000 euros (335,271 U.S. dollars) on the bank, taking into account the bank's financial performance and the management's admittance of flaws in the bank's internal control system and promises to deal with them.

As part of the probe into the bank's compliance with anti-money laundering requirements, the regulator also scrutinized several clients who, according to a report drawn up by the U.S. investigative consultancy Kroll for the National Bank of Moldova (the Kroll Report), had carried out transactions with the aim to gain control over several banks mentioned in the report. The deals reportedly took place in 2012 and 2013.

Under an administrative agreement reached between the regulator and the bank, Latvijas Pasta Banka has committed to dealing with the flaws in its internal control system and to ensure compliance with the law, as well as to consider dismissing the manager responsible.

The regulator has promised to follow the bank's progress on meeting these obligations.

Latvijas Pasta Banka is among Latvia's smallest banks. In September 2015, it ranked 19th among Latvia's 24 banks by assets. Endit

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)