Fubon Bank has been fined HK$4 million by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for breaching the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO).
The penalty follows Fubon Bank’s self-reporting of shortcomings in its transaction monitoring and the subsequent investigation by the monetary authority into the bank’s compliance systems and controls.
The HKMA identified that, between April 2019 and July 2022, Fubon Bank did not establish or maintain effective procedures for the continuous monitoring of its business relationships with customers. The regulator specifically noted deficiencies in managing system changes, addressing a significant drop in transaction alerts, and routinely reviewing the range of transactions covered by its monitoring system. Furthermore, the HKMA highlighted the bank’s failure to appropriately scrutinize customer transactions and to update customer due diligence reviews in response to trigger events.
Raymond Chan, executive director of enforcement and AML at the HKMA, remarked, “The AMLO mandates banks to implement effective continuous monitoring procedures for their business relationships to detect potential money laundering and terrorist financing activities at an early stage. When modifications are made to existing monitoring systems, bank management must ensure that the surveillance scope encompasses all relevant transactions, and any identified deficiencies are addressed promptly.”