London, 31st January 2017 – The action taken by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) against Deutsche Bank is yet more evidence of the large sums of money laundered into the UK every year.

Deutsche Bank were fined £163 million by the FCA for failing to prevent $10 billion of Russian money from being laundered through countries including the UK and the British Virgin Islands.

Duncan Hames, Director of Policy Transparency International UK, said:

“We welcome the action the FCA have taken in this case. No other UK supervisory body comes close to taking enforcement of anti-money laundering rules seriously. For fines to work, they have to be large enough both to punish and deter. That's not the case when firms appear able to treat them just as part of the cost of doing business. In future, under the Senior Manager Regime, we also need to see individuals held to account for their responsibility to prevent money laundering.”

“This case exposes the wider problem of theUK system’s complicity in laundering corrupt money from around the world. Radical overhaul of the UK’s anti-money laundering system is needed if the UK is to close the door to the billions of pounds in corrupt money coming into the country every year.”

“Companies wishing to turn a blind-eye to money laundering should take note of this action and ensure they are not enablers of global corruption, through providing an escape route for stolen cash.”

 ***ENDS***

Contact:
Dominic Kavakeb
020 3096 7695
0796 456 0340
dominc.kavakeb@transparency.org.uk