The bank was not fined, however.

The US Federal Reserve has ordered ICBC, the world’s largest lender, to ramp up its anti-money laundering regime after finding “significant deficiencies” in safeguards at its New York branch. 

The Chinese banking behemoth failed to properly report suspicious activity and comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, legislation designed to combat money laundering. As a result, the Fed ordered the bank to establish a system which sufficiently assesses risks linked to products and clients, including politically-exposed persons (PEPs).

ICBC, which has a prominent private banking operation, agreed to submit plans to amend its compliance programmes within 60 days. No financial penalty was imposed. 

The lender must hire an outside firm to review its dollar clearing activity in the second half of 2016 “to determine whether suspicious activity involving high-risk customers or transactions” was properly flagged. 

ICBC, whose assets under management exceed $3 trillion, has nearly 400 overseas branches across 40 jurisdictions. Its New York branch opened a decade ago.