Royal Bank of Canada Fined Over Money-Laundering Lapses — Update

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canada's financial-intelligence agency said Tuesday it has fined Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest lender by market capitalization, for failing to comply with the country's rules aimed at deterring money laundering.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or Fintrac, said the fine, of 7.5 million Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $5.5 million, is the largest financial penalty it has yet levied.

The regulator said Royal Bank failed to submit suspicious transactions reports "where there were reasonable grounds to suspect the transactions" were related to money laundering. It added Royal Bank failed to maintain updated policies and procedures regarding the vetting of potentially suspicious transactions.

A spokeswoman for Royal Bank said the fine "is not at all commensurate with an administrative matter where there is no connection to money laundering or terrorist financing offences." She added that there was no finding from Fintrac that bank employees acted in bad faith "or knowingly contributed to violations."

FINTRAC is responsible for overseeing that banks comply with laws meant to deter money laundering and terrorist financing.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2023 17:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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