- with readers working within the Metals & Mining industries
A bank settled FinCEN charges for "failing to implement and maintain" an effective AML program.
According to the Assessment of Civil Money Penalty, FinCEN determined that the bank's AML process for investigating suspicious transactions was "weak": the bank's analysts were unable to file "robust" suspicious activity reports ("SARs") because, when the analysts would investigate suspicious transactions, the business line gave them "vague" information and "implausible explanations" as justifications for the suspicious activity. These failures extended to instances in which the bank knew of certain customers' guilty pleas for criminal activity.
Additionally, the bank failed to include armored car cash shipments within its internal system to effectuate currency transaction reports ("CTRs") causing approximately 50,000 cash transactions to go unreported over three years.
As a result, the bank violated the Bank Secrecy Act, specifically, 31 U.S.C. 5318(a)(2), 5318(h)(1), 5318(g) and 5313 ("Reports on Domestic Coins and Currency Transactions"), as well as BSA Rules 1020.210 ("Anti-Money Laundering Program Requirements for Banks"), 1010.306(a)(1) and 1010.310 ("Reports of Transactions in Currency").
To settle the charges, the bank agreed to a $390 million civil money penalty, $100 million of which the bank had already paid in connection with a related OCC enforcement action.
Primary Sources
- FinCEN Press Release: FinCEN Announces $390,000,000 Enforcement Action against Capital One, National Association for Violations of the Bank Secrecy Act
- FinCEN Order: Capital One, National Association
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