The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has taken action against Geneva-based private bank Mirabaud & Cie, accusing it of having “failed in its obligations to combat money laundering”.
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The regulator imposed a series of measures and ordered the bank to review its business relationships.
The bank “has seriously infringed the rules of financial market law”, said FINMA in a statement on Tuesday, when it closed an in-depth investigation into Mirabaud & Cie.
Mirabaud & Cie “did not sufficiently verify and document the economic background of business relationships and transactions” that it carried out.
+ Money laundering reports rise in Switzerland
The origins of this case date back to 2010, according to FINMA. Since then, Mirabaud had maintained “several business relationships with companies and complex structures likely to be directly or indirectly linked” to a businessman, now deceased, accused of tax evasion.
The identity of this person was not revealed by the regulator, but his fortune must have been substantial. As part of this business relationship, the bank managed assets worth up to $1.7 billion (CHF1.4 billion). “At times, these assets represented close to 10% of Mirabaud’s total assets under management,” said FINMA.
FINMA opened an investigation in June 2021, which was closed two years later. As a result of these breaches, Mirabaud & Cie forfeited CHF12.7 million in improperly obtained gains. It is also prohibited from accepting new clients with increased money laundering risks, and proceedings have been opened against three unidentified individuals.
Beware of high-risk clients
Mirabaud & Cie must also carry out a risk assessment of all its business relationships, and decide whether or not to pursue them. The bank must also analyse all relevant higher-risk transactions between 2018 and 2022, a task to which it has since committed.
FINMA has also prohibited the bank from accepting new customers “presenting increased money laundering risks” until the measures ordered have been fully implemented.
Reacting to this announcement, the bank told AWP that it had been “fully cooperative”. It has “implemented operational, organisational and personal measures to enhance its risk and compliance processes, and is committed to maintaining the highest standards in this regard”, it added.
However, it declined to comment on the operational consequences of these measures, in particular the review of its client base.
In the first half of the year, Mirabaud’s assets under management rose by 7.3% to CHF32.4 billion, while net profit amounted to CHF10.1 million, compared with CHF19.2 million a year earlier.
Translated from French by DeepL/jdp
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