Royal Bank of Canada was fined C$7.48 million ($5.5 million) for a series of violations under the country’s money-laundering and terrorist-financing law.
The infractions included a number of cases where the bank had “reasonable grounds” to suspect that a transactions were related to money laundering or terrorist groups, but failed to report them, according to a statement from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, which enforces anti-money-laundering rules in the banking sector.
Royal Bank, Canada’s largest lender, failed to submit suspicious transaction reports in 16 cases out of 130 reviewed, Fintrac said. The agency also found that the Toronto-based company “lacked appropriate and documented governance for developing, updating and effectively implementing” procedures to stop money laundering and financing of terrorists.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards on our processes to report suspicious activity and quickly took action to address gaps,” Royal Bank spokeswoman Gillian McArdle said in an emailed statement. “We chose not to appeal but believe the fine is not at all commensurate with an administrative matter where there is no connection to money-laundering or terrorist-financing offenses. Equally important, there is no finding that anyone exercised judgment in bad faith or knowingly contributed to violations.”