More than $352.5m worth of anti-money laundering (AML) fines were handed out globally in the last four months, according to the latest study from Encompass Corporation.
There were 20 AML penalties given out around the world between 1 May and 31 August. While these fines totalled $352.5m, during the same period in 2018, four fines were handed out totalling $707m.
Most of the fines were given to banks ($339.3m) and the rest was deployed to firms in other industries ($13.1m) and an individual ($50,000).
Belgium saw the majority of AML fines during this period, with three penalties in the country totalling $336.7m. The UK was the next biggest, with four penalties totalling $10.6m in fines.
The other countries to see AML fines handed out included the US, Latvia, Norway, and India.
Wayne Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO of Encompass Corporation said, “As 2019 runs on, we have seen yet another fine in the hundreds of millions, and we expect to see more large penalties over the remainder of the year. As we have noted previously, multi-million-dollar fines are commonplace these days, as evidenced by the fact that seven of the 20 penalties given out from May to August were $1 million or higher.”
“Large AML fines are often predominantly associated with the US and UK, since both countries have transparent regulatory cultures and active regulatory bodies, but in the last four months we have seen activity from regulators in multiple jurisdictions, with the largest fine originating from Belgium. This serves to show the importance being placed on the identification and prevention of money laundering at a global level. Given the current pace, we still think there is a good chance that 2019 could break the record set in 2014 for the highest value of AML fines given out in a year.”
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Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
