‘EVASIVE’:Regulators said AgBank had masked the true identity of parties using SWIFT, and found unusual transactions between Chinese firms and parties in Russia and Yemen

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 06, 2016
By: AFP, NEW YORK

New York’s state bank regulator on Friday fined the giant Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (AgBank, 中國農業銀行) US$215 million for violating anti-money laundering laws and obscuring suspicious transactions involving Russia, China, Afghanistan and other countries.

Citing a deliberate failure to scrutinize dubious money transfers, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) said the bank, the third-largest in the world, created “a substantial risk” that terrorist groups, sanctions-barred countries and criminals could have passed funds through the bank.

The bank had also “silenced” a whistle-blower who attempted to carry out internal investigations, the DFS said.

The move by the powerful New York regulator followed a September action by the US Federal Reserve, which ordered AgBank to improve internal controls against money laundering.    [FULL  STORY]