UBS Financial Services fined $125 million by US regulators for AML violations
U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) imposed a $125 million civil penalty on UBS Financial Services, the broker‑dealer arm of Swiss bank UBS, for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. The fine is the largest ever levied against a broker‑dealer for anti‑money‑laundering (AML) failures. Regulators said UBS failed to monitor more than 60,000 foreign‑currency wire transfers worth over $10 billion between January 2019 and June 2023 and did not conduct adequate due‑diligence on high‑risk customers tied to Russia and Latin America.
The settlement also resolves related actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and FINRA, adding roughly $20 million, $8 million and $4.5 million respectively, for a total of about $145 million in penalties. Under the agreement UBS will pay $62 million to the Treasury, with up to $15 million potentially waived if it completes specified AML remediation work. The firm admitted the violations, said it has fully cooperated with authorities and will hire an external consultant to review its AML program after previously paying a $14.5 million fine in 2018 for similar shortcomings.
Entities: Bank Secrecy Act · Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) · FinCEN · Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) · Russia · U.S. Department of the Treasury · U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) · UBS Financial Services · UBS Financial Services Inc.
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 2 SOURCES] UBS will hire an external consultant to evaluate its AML program and has invested in remediation efforts. (UBS)
- [● 4 SOURCES] The $125 million penalty is the largest civil fine ever imposed on a broker‑dealer for BSA violations. (FinCEN)
- [● 5 SOURCES] UBS failed to monitor more than 60,000 foreign‑currency wire transfers totaling over $10 billion between Jan 2019 and Jun 2023. (FinCEN)
- [● 5 SOURCES] UBS did not conduct adequate due‑diligence on high‑risk customers linked to Russia and Latin America. (FinCEN)
- [● 10 SOURCES] UBS Financial Services was fined $125 million by FinCEN for willful Bank Secrecy Act violations. (FinCEN)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The SEC, CFTC and FINRA imposed additional penalties of about $20 million, $8 million and $4.5 million respectively, bringing total penalties to roughly $145 million. (SEC/CFTC/FINRA)
- [● 5 SOURCES] UBS previously paid a $14.5 million civil penalty in 2018 for similar AML failures. (FinCEN)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] UBS will pay $62 million to the US Treasury, with up to $15 million possibly waived if remediation conditions are met. (FinCEN)