Countering the Financing of Terrorism

Luxembourg’s financial watchdogs are stepping up their scrutiny of terrorist financing amid concerns that the Grand Duchy’s status as an international financial hub makes it vulnerable to abuse by illicit actors.

The Luxembourg bar association ia applying a form of shock therapy to lawyers taking a laissez-faire view of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws, but its disciplinary body has nevertheless found a loophole allowing it to continue this country’s tradition of not publicly identifying the guilty.

Luxembourg financial regulator the CSSF announced late last Friday a “reprimand” on a Swiss private bank named Banque  J. Safra Sarasin (Luxembourg) S.A. for failing to comply with Luxembourg law on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (the AML/CFT law).

Swiss private bank Banque j. Safra Sarasin, reprimanded by Luxembourg financial regulator CSSF in a public statement last Friday, has stated that the regulator had alleged no “actual money laundering activities”.