Dutch online bank Bunq has reportedly received a EUR 2.6 million fine from De Nederlandsche Bank for failures in its money laundering controls.
Following this announcement, DNB officials mentioned that Bunq was fined in May for `serious shortcomings` in four cases between January 2021 and May 2022, in which the company failed to properly investigate and report signs of possible financial crimes.
In addition, the institution also said that previous investigations had already shown several repeated failures, which the bank did not optimise despite an earlier fine and other warnings. According to Reuters, Bunq mentioned that it disagrees with DNB’s decision, to which it has also formally objected.
More information on Bunq’s EUR 2.6 million money laundering controls fine
The Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act was developed in order to require banks in the Netherlands to screen and monitor their customers for suspicious transactions. At the same time, this process also required them to know who their customers are, where the customers’ money comes from, and what customers intend to do with financial products.
With this in mind, DNB examined four bunq customer files flagged as high-risk for money laundering or terrorist financing. This process found that bunq was `deficient` in following up on its transaction monitoring, with signals of possible financial crime that were not investigated in sufficient depth, if at all. According to DNB officials, the online bank also couldn’t explain why it flagged similar transactions as suspicious in some cases, but not in others.
