FIU fines MCB Bank, Bank of China, Vogue Jewellers Rs. 2.75 mn

Sri Lanka’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulator, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) imposed combined administrative penalties in the tune of Rs. 2.75 million on MCB Bank, Bank of China and Vogue Jewellers for their failure to comply with of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act (FTRA) in May-October period of this year.

MCB Bank along with Bank of China was fined with Rs.1 million each on 26th of July and 10th of September this year for their failure to report some Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) transactions related to trade finance under FTRA, where the amount of such transfer exceeded Rs. 1 million.  

Meanwhile, Vogue Jewellers Vogue Jewellers (Pvt) Ltd was slapped with a fine of Rs.750, 000 on 20th of October this year broadly due to failure to meet in KYC requirements. 

The company had failed to obtain identification documents of customers who conducted cash transactions in Sri Lankan Rupees or in any foreign currency equivalent to or above US$ 15,000 as required by the Section 2(2) of the FTRA, Rules 9(2)(b), 10(a) and 11 of the Designated Non-Finance Business (Customer Due Diligence) Rules, No. 1 of 2018 (CDD Rules).

Further, the company had failed to maintain and retain records of identification documents of customers as required by the Section 4(1)(b) of the FTRA and Rule 38(1) of the CDD Rules, the Central Bank explained. 
The three reporting entities have settled their fines and accordingly, FIU credited the money collected as penalties to the Consolidated Fund.