ING Says SEC Ends Probe Into Company Without Enforcement Action
05 Septembre 2018 - 11:07PM
Dow Jones News
By Samuel Rubenfeld
Dutch lender ING Groep NV said Wednesday that U.S. regulators
have closed their investigation into the bank after it reached a
record settlement with local authorities.
The bank in a regulatory filing said it received a formal
notification from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that
the agency had concluded its investigation, and that it wouldn't
bring an enforcement action "based on information as of this date."
The SEC declined to comment.
The news comes a day after ING agreed to pay a record European
fine of EUR775 million ($897.3 million) to settle an investigation
by Dutch prosecutors into money-laundering control failures.
Dutch authorities said they found that ING "did not properly
fulfill its role as gatekeeper of our financial system," adding
that "clients were able to use accounts held with ING for criminal
activities for many years, virtually undisturbed."
Prosecutors began an investigation of ING in March 2016. ING not
only violated Dutch anti-money-laundering law due to its compliance
failures, but also was culpable of money laundering conducted by
clients through the bank, Dutch prosecutors said.
The bank said in a statement Tuesday that the Dutch
investigation, which it disclosed in March 2017, also had involved
related information requests from U.S. authorities.
"Not meeting the required standards is unacceptable and ING
takes full responsibility," the company said. "Even though our
policies and procedures in the Netherlands resulted in us
terminating the relationships with thousands of clients, it was not
enough."
The Dutch central bank warned ING on multiple occasions,
prosecutors said, noting that the central bank also had taken
formal measures. Enhancement programs were put into place but
weren't carried out with enough vigor, authorities said.
During its investigation, Dutch authorities focused on four
cases, finding that clients in those cases were able to misuse
their ING bank accounts. One involved Dutch-based telecom
VimpelCom, which Dutch prosecutors said used its ING bank accounts
to transfer bribes worth tens of millions of dollars to a company
controlled by the daughter of the then president of Uzbekistan.
VimpelCom agreed in February 2016 to pay $795 million in
penalties to U.S. and Dutch authorities to settle a bribery
investigation.
Another case involved an alleged women's underwear trader who
was able to launder $150 million through accounts held at ING. "It
should have been clear to the bank that the monetary flows had
little to do with the lingerie trade and were therefore unusual,"
prosecutors said.
Write to Samuel Rubenfeld at samuel.rubenfeld@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 05, 2018 16:52 ET (20:52 GMT)
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