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. Several
establishments have been put on notice.
The "Panama papers" scandal, the setbacks of Danske Bank in Estonia or the fine imposed in 2014
by American justice to BNP Paribas have not fundamentally changed the situation: the banking sector
does not sufficiently control its subsidiaries abroad in terms of the fight against money laundering and financing
terrorism (LCB-FT). This is the criticism addressed by the French banking policeman, the Control Authority
and Resolution (ACPR) to large French groups, following a series of checks carried out
between 2016 and 2018.
Disciplinary procedures
“Given the shortcomings noted […], the checks carried out led the ACPR to give formal notice
certain group heads to comply within tight deadlines with the obligations
incumbent", indicates the supervisor in his report.
And to add: "if the corrective actions undertaken were not implemented within the prescribed deadlines
or prove to be insufficient, the ACPR Board could be required to initiate disciplinary proceedings
".
In several establishments abroad, points out in particular the authority, the controls were relaxed: a
customer could open an account without having provided all his identification details, the banker was not looking
not the ultimate beneficiaries of a transaction or an account, or the checks were less
demanding when entering into a relationship with a politically exposed person.
National reputational risk
This warning shot from the French policeman comes a few days before the European Ministers of
finances are looking into the European supervision of money laundering control on Thursday . Some states,
among the 28 apply the directives less strictly than the others, the Commission criticized in July. And
since the alleged 200 billion euro money laundering scandal at Danske Bank, every authority
concerned, at the national and supranational level, passes the responsibility on to itself.
“ Money laundering and terrorist financing are significant risks […] which can ultimately
affect the reputation of their country's financial system," said a few days ago in Malta Andrea
Enria, Chairman of the ECB Supervisory Board. A way to carry the burden of the fight
anti - money laundering at the national level, the ECB not intending to endorse it. It will thus be a question on Thursday of creating
a special European supervisor.
Source protection
This hypothesis is also mentioned for national intelligence agencies specialized 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, in particular on the way in which we would protect our sources and the declarations of the banks on this scale, explains to "Echos" Albert Allo, the deputy director of the French agency. Above all, it is necessary to guarantee
better collaboration between national authorities”.
Bringing banks into compliance, including abroad, does not solve the whole problem,
he explains: "In France, information coming from a foreign country is equivalent to a declaration of suspicion and can
trigger an investigation on our soil. But this is not the case for many countries, especially outside
The union ". Clearly, abroad, the declaration of a French bank subsidiary will not necessarily give rise
to an investigation.
But it is in their commercial interest to quickly put themselves in working order: "Abroad, as in Africa or
in the Middle East, if you waste too much time on verifications, the customer changes establishment, indicates
Antoine Rizk, the CEO of Flaminem for whom "banks have a real stake in setting up
digitized procedures.
Anne Driff