http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42982860
A
subsidiary of Dutch bank Rabobank has agreed to pay more than $368m (£265m) to
resolve a US investigation of its anti money laundering policies.
The
US said the bank 'chose to look the other way' when faced with
millions of dollars in transactions indicative of criminal activity.
Rabobank
also pleaded guilty to trying to obstruct the examination of its policies.
The
firm called the violations 'regrettable and unacceptable'.
'Rabobank
is fully committed to conducting business with the highest levels of integrity,
which includes strict compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and
standards in each of the markets and jurisdictions in which it operates,'
said Wiebe Draijer, chair of Rabobank's managing board, in a statement.
The
plea deal, filed in a federal court, concerned transactions processed between
2009 and 2012.
The
US Department of Justice said Rabobank received repeated internal alerts of
suspicious transactions by 'high-risk' customers at branches near the
Mexican border.
For
example, certain customers withdrew more than $1m per year in cash in small
amounts designed to avoid broader review.
But
the bank opted to create a list of 'verified' customers whose
transactions were exempt from review rather than investigate and follow other
anti-money laundering procedures.
The
list increased from less than 10 to more than 1,000 over three years.
Two
earlier US investigations of the bank's anti-money laundering programme led to
sanctions.
The
settlement comes less than two months after a former Rabobank vice president
entered into a plea deal for his role in the lapses in Rabobank's processes.