U.S. agencies impose record penalties on UBS for persistent anti-money laundering violations spanning nearly five years.
UBS Financial Services will pay $153 million in fines after three U.S. regulators penalized the bank for anti-money laundering violations between January 2019 and June 2023. The penalties stem from failures in foreign currency wire monitoring and customer due diligence, marking the largest fine ever imposed by FinCEN for Bank Secrecy Act violations.
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) levied a $125 million civil penalty, its largest to date, citing willful violations. FINRA and the CFTC also imposed fines, bringing the total to $153 million. UBS was previously fined $14.5 million by FinCEN in 2018 for similar issues, underscoring repeated compliance failures.
Regulators mandated that UBS work with a third-party to overhaul its anti-money laundering procedures. FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki warned that repeat offenders risk severe repercussions, emphasizing the threat to financial system integrity.