By Shingo Kawamoto and Takahiko Hyuga
June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. was ordered by Japan’s financial regulator to suspend marketing of banking services to individuals for a month, after failing to put in place adequate internal controls to prevent money laundering.
The Financial Services Agency told Citibank Japan Ltd. to halt retail banking sales from July 15 to Aug. 14, except in cases where the company is approached by customers, the regulator said in a statement in Tokyo today. It also ordered the bank to improve governance and control systems.
The regulator found Citigroup had “fundamental problems” with its compliance, including systems to detect and monitor suspicious transactions. The New York-based bank failed to implement an improvement plan it submitted after it was forced to close its private banking business in Japan in 2004 for a similar failure, the watchdog said.
Citibank Japan didn’t update a database used to screen suspicious transactions since 2004, and management officials “lack an understanding of the rules applied in Japan, such as laws and regulations, and an awareness of improvement,” the regulator said in its statement.
Citigroup will comply with the regulator’s order and will submit an improvement plan by July 31, the company said in a statement. The order won’t have any impact on business with institutional clients, the bank said.
“We apologize deeply and take the situation seriously,” the company said in the statement.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento