Rabobank is again being tackled by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) because that bank is failing to combat money laundering. DNB informed Rabobank about this last month. The outcome of the so-called enforcement process is still unknown. Rabobank does not want to speculate about that either.
Rabobank has not met the requirements of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (Wwft) for years. In September 2018, DNB therefore imposed a penalty of EUR 500,000 on the bank. It was forfeited at the beginning of this year because Rabobank still did not meet all the requirements. The bank then actually had to pay that amount.
Now DNB is putting further pressure on the bank, because Rabobank still does not keep an eye on all customers at the Dutch retail bank and reports unusual transactions. CEO Wiebe Draijer says that Rabobank considers these processes very important. According to him, these activities have been ‘substantially tightened up’ in recent years. Draijer calls setting up these systems ‘an ongoing process’ to which Rabobank pays a lot of attention. “We are in constant dialogue with DNB about this.”
A spokesperson for DNB also does not want to prejudge the possible outcomes of the enforcement process. The regulator has nothing to add to Rabobank’s press release, it sounds.
Problems for years
The money laundering rules have been causing problems for Dutch banks for years. ING and ABN AMRO both had to pay hundreds of millions of euros after settlements with the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The Public Prosecution Service is investigating a third bank for failing to combat money laundering, it was announced earlier this year. However, both the Public Prosecution Service and DNB did not want to say anything about which bank is still in the sights of the authorities.
In addition, the Public Prosecution Service is still conducting legal investigations against various former directors of ABN AMRO, including former CEO Gerrit Zalm. Former ING CEO Ralph Hamers is also being prosecuted after the judge ruled that this had to be done. Previously, the Public Prosecution Service did not want to do this, but various parties forced prosecution with a so-called Article 12 procedure. Hamers is now CEO of the Swiss bank UBS.
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