Taiwan's government will probe a bank that was fined for violating anti-money laundering laws by a U.S. regulator.
Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission will investigate Mega International Commercial Bank, the authority announed in a statement on its website.
Suspicious transactions flowed between the bank's New York and Panama branches and a substantial number of customer «entities» were apparently formed by Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm at the centre of the «Panama Papers» scandal, the Department of Financial Services in New York said Friday. The bank also already been fined $180 million for violating anti-money laundering laws by the U.S. regulator.
Fine Will Hurt Earnngs This Year
The lender's head office was «indifferent toward risks associated with transactions involving Panama, recognised as a high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering,» the Department of Financial Services said further.
The bank was described by the Department of Financial Services as a «major international financial institution,» with about $103 billion in assets, including $9 billion at its New York branch. In a stock exchange statement, Mega Financial said that the fine for the unit was «bearable» but would hurt earnings this year.
