N26 pays €4.25m fine for money laundering failures
Germany’s financial regulator, BaFin, has ordered N26 to pay a fine of €4.25 million for money laundering failures.
BaFin warned N26 about its security controls in May
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) censured N26 for delayed responses to suspicious activity reports (SARs) flagged in 2019 and 2020.
According to N26, the matter is closed and the fine paid, while the SARs related to fewer than 50 instances.
The challenger had already been warned by BaFin to tighten its controls and safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing.
In a 20 May order, the regulator said N26 needed to remove backlogs in its monitoring systems and reidentify several customers.
BaFin also sent a special representative to embed themselves at the bank and keep a closer eye on its activities.
“N26 takes its responsibility in the fight against the growing threat of global financial crime, and in the prevention of money laundering, very seriously,” the digital bank writes in a statement.
“As always, N26 will continue to invest in maintaining and improving these standards to set us up well for the future, working in close collaboration with the responsible regulatory, financial and investigating authorities.”
Efficient and robust KYC is key!