Shinhan Bank America was assessed a $15 million civil penalty from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, according to the website of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN). The Bank Secrecy Act's mandated standards were not met by Shinhan Bank, which is in violation of the law. The bank with its headquarters in South Korea operates 155 branches in 20 countries across the world. The United States of America is home to five of the company's locations.
"SHBA willfully disregarded its obligations under the BSA to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and to identify and report suspicious transactions to FinCEN, despite being informed of its deficiencies as far back as 2015," said Andrea Gacki, FinCEN's Director of Enforcement "Today's action should serve as a reminder to banks of all sizes that AML program deficiencies must be promptly and effectively addressed, and that FinCEN takes seriously repeated failures to remediate violations of the BSA."
Between April 2016 and March 2021, SHBA flagrantly ignored the BSA rules by not having a comprehensive AML program in place. Despite the fact that this program is meant to protect against activities related to money laundering, SHBA did not promptly disclose several hundred transactions to FinCHEN that involved suspected financial activity. These transactions involved suspicious financial activity. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) was not informed in a timely manner of unreported transactions involving tens of millions of dollars that were linked to tax evasion, public corruption, and other financial crimes.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network strives to safeguard the financial system from illicit use, combat money laundering and related crimes like terrorism, and strengthen national security by strategically utilizing financial authorities and collecting, analyzing, and disseminating financial intelligence. These activities are carried out in order to secure the financial system. A close working relationship was maintained between the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and FDIC depositors. Infractions related to the Bank Secrecy Act led to a civil penalty of $5 million from the FDIC, while infractions related to the BSA led to a civil penalty of $10 million from the New York State Department of Financial Services.
