Anti-Money Laundering: Major Bank Fined in Latvia

The Baltics are an extremely treacherous zone for financial institutions and banks. A telling example: a large fine was issued to the Latvian Signet Bank. It got a fine of EUR 906,610 for its failure to comply with AML requirements.

Latvia’s financial regulator exposed Signet Bank as being in breach of AML and CFT legislation. As a reminder, SEB Group and Swedbank in Sweden were penalized for similar violations recently.

In view of the fines, severe complications are likely to follow in the operations of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian banks with their clients, especially foreign ones. The situation is not expected to change in the nearest future, so overseas customers had better prepare for the alterations in advance — set all the documents in order and open a backup bank account in another jurisdiction.

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