Despite the scandals, the control of the foreign subsidiaries of French banks remains insufficient in the fight
against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, points out the French banking supervisor. Multiple
establishments have been put on notice.
The Panama Papers scandal, danske Bank's setbacks in Estonia or the fine imposed in 2014
by the American justice at BNP Paribas have not fundamentally changed the situation: the banking sector
does not sufficiently control its subsidiaries abroad in the fight against money laundering and financing
terrorism (AML-CFT). This is the criticism addressed by the French banking policeman, the Autorité de contrôle
prudential and resolution (ACPR) to large French groups, following a series of controls carried out
between 2016 and 2018.
Disciplinary proceedings
'In view of the shortcomings identified ..., the checks carried out led the ACPR to give formal notice
certain group leaders to comply within tight deadlines with their obligations
incumbent," says the supervisor in his report.
He added: "If the corrective actions taken were not implemented according to the prescribed deadlines
or prove insufficient, the ACPR College may be required to open disciplinary proceedings
".
In several locations abroad, points out the authority, controls were relaxed: one
customer could open an account without having provided all his identification elements, the banker was not looking for
not the final beneficiaries of a transaction or account, or the audits were less
demanding when entering into a relationship with a politically exposed person.
National ReputationAl This warning shot from the French gendarme comes a few days before the European ministers of
on Thursday, the European supervision of money laundering control is being discussed. Some States,
of the 28, apply the directives less strictly than the others, the Commission criticised in July. Et
since Danske Bank's alleged €200 billion money laundering scandal, every authority
concerned, at national and supranational level, the responsibility is passed on.
"Money laundering and terrorist financing are significant risks [...] that can ultimately
affect the reputation of their country's financial system," Andrea
said a few days ago in Malta Enria, the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB. A way to shift the burden of fight
anti-money laundering at national level, as the ECB does not intend to endorse it. It will be a question on Thursday of creating
a special European supervisor.
Source protection
This hypothesis is also evoked for the specialized national intelligence agencies in Europe
in the fight against fraud, money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Which would have
implications for banks. "Creating a supranational body, a European Tracfin, presents
risks, especially on how we would protect our sources and the statements of the banks at this scale, explains to "Echos" Albert Allo, the deputy director of the French agency. Above all better collaboration between national authorities".
The compliance of banks, including abroad, does not solve the whole problem,
He explains: "In France, information from a foreign country is worth a suspicious report and may
trigger an investigation on our soil. But this is not the case in many countries, especially outside of< > the Union". Clearly, abroad, the declaration of a French bank subsidiary will not necessarily give rise
to a survey.
But it is in their commercial interest to get up and running quickly: "Abroad, as in Africa or
in the Middle East, if you waste too much time on checks, the customer changes locations, says
Antoine Rizk, CEO of Flaminem for whom "banks have a real stake in setting up
digitized procedures".