ING Groep settled a money laundering case with Dutch prosecutors on Tuesday, September 4, 2018, agreeing to pay €775 million, or about $900 million. The deal ranked among the largest settlements of its kind in the Netherlands.
Investigators blamed the bank for breaching the country’s law against money laundering and terrorism financing “structurally and for years.” They said ING failed to stop customer accounts from being used to launder money between 2010 and 2016.
The lender had neglected its gatekeeper duties, prosecutors said. It sometimes did not identify the ultimate beneficial owners behind accounts, and it missed unusual transactions flowing through them.
“The result was that clients for years were able to make use of ING bank accounts for criminal activities pretty much undisturbed,” a prosecution statement said. “ING should have seen that the money streams that ran through those bank accounts possibly were coming from crime.”
Of the total, €675 million was the fine and €100 million represented disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, the country’s financial prosecution office said.
The bank said it deeply regretted its failures. “Not meeting the required standards is unacceptable and ING takes full responsibility,” it stated. “Even though our policies and procedures in the Netherlands resulted in us terminating the relationships with thousands of clients, it was not enough.”
Its executive board, led by chief executive Ralph Hamers, agreed to give up any bonus for 2018.
Sources
- ING settles money laundering case with Dutch prosecutors for $900m – Profit by Pakistan Today
- Dutch bank ING pays $1.2b fine after admitting to money laundering
