ABN Amro under investigation for anti-money laundering failures
Netherlands-based bank ABN Amro is being investigated by Dutch prosecutors for anti-money laundering failures, among claims that it failed to report suspicious transactions for “years”.
The lawmakers are looking into whether ABN Amro was involved in a money laundering network which allegedly moved billions of euros from Russia. The period of time over which the alleged failures occurred has not been disclosed.
Shares in the bank fell by 10%
Shares in the bank fell by 10% as the news broke after it announced that it currently had no indication as to the impact of the investigation.
The move on ABN Amro is part of a wider European crackdown on money laundering, and was announced just a day after Deutsche Bank’s headquarters were raided by German authorities over its connections to the Danske Bank scandal.
“It’s extremely worrying that ABN Amro is under investigation by prosecutors,” says Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra. “Banks have an important gatekeeper function in keeping criminals out.”
A Dutch central bank spokesman Tobias Oudejans told Reuters: “We stand by this warning, and this investigation underlines that these issues have not been fully resolved yet.”
Investigators estimated last year that €13 billion was laundered through the Netherlands between 2004 and 2014, equivalent to 2% of Dutch gross domestic product (GDP).
ABN Amro, founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, is the third-largest bank in the Netherlands.
