Two financial institutions fined under anti-money laundering laws

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank said it has imposed penalties on two financial institutions, amounting to Rs.4.0 million, during the first quarter, for not complying with the anti-money laundering laws.

The FIU, as the regulator for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) in the country, had imposed the penalties for not complying with the provisions of Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 06 of 2006 (FTRA).

Accordingly, a Rs.1 million penalty was imposed on Kanrich Finance Ltd and a Rs.3 million penalty on Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC.

“Penalties were imposed mainly on the violations of Financial Institutions (Customer Due Diligence) Rules, No. 1 of 2016, in relation to the United Nations sanctions screening, customer identification and verification, suspicious transactions reporting and implementation of proper risk controls and mitigation measures,” a Central Bank statement said.