Citibank has paid a $70 million penalty for failing to comply with a 2012 consent order related to the bank’s anti-money-laundering policies, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday.
The 2012 order
“In assessing this civil money penalty, the agency found that the bank has not achieved compliance with the OCC’s 2012 order, failing to complete corrective actions to address BSA/AML compliance issues as required by the order,” the OCC said in a statement.
Among other things, the regulator cited the Citigroup unit for incomplete identification of high-risk customers in multiple areas of the bank and inadequate due diligence on its foreign correspondent customers. The OCC also said that Citibank failed to file timely suspicious activity reports.
The OCC said that Citibank had voluntarily revealed that it did not adequately monitor remote deposit capture between 2006 and 2010, which led to its failure to file timely suspicious activity reports. The regulator’s examination also turned up other problems that the bank did not uncover in its own independent audit.
“Citi is committed to taking all necessary and appropriate steps to remedy the concerns identified by the OCC,” a spokesperson for the bank said in an email to American Banker. “We have made substantial investments to enhance our BSA/AML programs and we maintain a commitment to developing an industry-leading program to help to protect the integrity of the financial system.”
Citibank paid the penalty to the U.S. Treasury, and the OCC will continue to monitor the bank for compliance with the 2012 order.
