The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has fined Shanghai Commercial Bank (SCOM) for contravening the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO) by “failing to establish and maintain effective procedures for the purpose of carrying out its duty to continuously monitor business relationships”, according to a Hong Kong government press release.
SCOM has been ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty of HKD5,000,000, and to submit to the HKMA a report prepared by an independent external advisor assessing whether the remedial measures implemented by SCOM are sufficient to address the contraventions.
SCOM issued a press release stating full co-operation with the HKMA, its enhancement of appropriate measures, its intent on commissioning an independent external consultant to access the matter, its review and enhance of internal policies and procedures, and the fact that the incident has had no impact on the services provided to its customers. For more in-depth information on this topic, please read the following article from Reuters.