Deutsche Bank pays price for Russian money scam

Deutsche Bank has been fined more than £500 million by UK and American regulators after failings at the German financial giant spawned a $10 billion (£7.9bn) Russian money-laundering scam.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) hit the bank with a record £163 million penalty for anti-money laundering shortcomings and exposing the country “to the risk of financial crime”.

The Financial Conduct Authority said Deutsche Bank had exposed the UK to the risk of financial crime. Picture: Philip Toscano/PA Wireplaceholder image
The Financial Conduct Authority said Deutsche Bank had exposed the UK to the risk of financial crime. Picture: Philip Toscano/PA Wire

The New York State Department of Financial Services fined Deutsche $425m for the abuses, which took place at the bank’s Moscow, London and New York offices.

The FCA said the German lender failed to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (AML) control framework from 2012 to 2015.

Lax controls at Deutsche enabled unidentified customers to transfer the money of unknown origin from Russia to offshore bank accounts in a manner that was “highly suggestive of financial crime”, the FCA said.

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