LUXEMBOURG - The Luxembourg bank has been sanctioned because of certain weaknesses in its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing system.

The cleaver fell. The Commission de surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) has sanctioned the Banque internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) for weaknesses in its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing system. It was BIL itself that announced it via a statement published on Monday.

Amount of punishment: €4.6 million fine. The controls of the gendarme of the financial center date back to 2017 and 2018. While weaknesses have therefore been identified, bil states that "no money laundering or terrorist financing activity has been identified". The CSSF's controls focused on "a sample of clients from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Editor's note: which includes former Soviet republics, including Russia), representing a limited number of clients, whose inherent risk is generally considered high".

In any case, BIL claims to have reacted after the checks. It says it has "swiftly taken appropriate measures to address the weaknesses identified" and "has defined a new and rigorous risk tolerance framework in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing". Thus, "new specialists have been recruited, additional training has been organized and the awareness of employees has been strengthened".