The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) appears to have not yet decided what, if any, action to take against ANZ New Zealand for what it considers to be a "material breach" of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT Act) by the country's biggest bank.
As interest.co.nz reported in May, ANZ NZ self-reported three prescribed transaction reporting issues to the RBNZ, its AML/CFT Act supervisor. The matters relate to transaction reports having not been filed within the required timeframe.
"The Bank self-identified three prescribed transaction reporting (PTR) matters to RBNZ, where transaction reports had not been filed within the prescribed timeframe. RBNZ has informed the Bank that it considers one of these matters, related to 6,409 transaction reports of a certain SWIFT message type, to be a material breach, and the other two to be minor breaches, of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 relating to PTR," ANZ NZ says in its latest general disclosure statement.
"RBNZ’s enforcement team is considering this matter. The potential outcome of these matters remains uncertain at this time."
Asked by interest.co.nz for further comment spokespeople for both ANZ NZ and the RBNZ say they have nothing further to add at this stage.
All businesses covered by the AML/CFT Act have to report international wire transfers and physical cash transactions over certain amounts, known as prescribed transactions, to the Police Financial Intelligence Unit. The limits are $1,000 or more for international wire/funds transfers, and $10,000 or more for physical cash transactions.
An international wire transfer of $1,000 or more is a prescribed transaction when at least one of the institutions involved in the transaction, i.e. the ordering, intermediary or beneficiary institution, is in NZ, and at least one is outside NZ.
A domestic, physical cash transaction of $10,000 or more involving physical currency, i.e. coin and printed money designated as legal tender, is also a prescribed transaction.
The RBNZ last year took a bank to court for the first time, acting against TSB for "acknowledged breaches" of the AML/CFT Act. The RBNZ didn't, however, allege TSB was involved in actual money laundering or the financing of terrorism.
Justice Jillian Mellon imposed a $3.50 million fine on TSB, with the total penalty combining individual penalties for four breaches of the AML/CFT Act. The AML/CFT Act sets out civil penalties of up to $200,000 in the case of an individual, and $2 million in the case of a body corporate.
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7 Comments
ANZ should have to disclose how much profit was made on those transactions when converted to/from NZD if a conversion was involved. The fine should then be 10x that amount + a % of their total asset base because they are always saying, like other banks, we make so little profit relative to our asset base so why not fine them based on that? Then you show a yellow card to the directors, two yellow cards and you are off the Board.
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