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).
The measure was imposed on 3 August following a CSSF on-site inspection that began in 2019 as part of the AML/CFT effort. “Important weaknesses were identified especially with regard to name matching controls and the cooperation with the authorities,” said the CSSF, who pointed out that the deficiencies related to facts observed during the inspection.
Remedial actions considered
In deciding on this administrative sanction ”the CSSF duly took into consideration the cooperation of the bank and the remedial actions undertaken by the bank, including actions initiated before the on-site inspection, in order to address the deficiencies identified.”
Neither the CSSF nor the Banque J. Safra Sarasin* have yet responded to requests for comment on this CSSF action. The bank is owned by the Brazilian J. Safra Group and is headquartered in Basel.
The CSSF noted that the disclosure of this sanction was made under a provision off the AML/CFT law.
This CSSF action follows the mid-September announcement of a 266,000 euro fine against fund service provider Maitland Luxembourg SA (see story link below) for deficiencies in the firm’s AML/CFT compliance.
* Banque J. Safra Sarasin responded late on Monday evening to an email sent the previous Friday.