Legal
Ex-BSI Banker's Bid To Overturn Ban Rejected By Swiss Court

The 1MDB scandal has prompted widespread navel-gazing among global regulators and the financial services industry about the effectiveness of AML controls.
A top Swiss appeals court has rejected a banker's bid to lift his
three-year regulatory ban from working in the industry over
failures to properly fight money-laundering linked to
scandal-warped Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, Reuters has
reported.
In a ruling released on Monday this week, the Federal
Administrative Court turned down the appeal by the former
senior executive at Swiss bank BSI, who had argued that Swiss
watchdog FINMA's ban was based on factual errors, the news agency
said in its report. (This publication was unable to locate the
ruling on the Court’s website.)
The report added that the court found that a lower court was
justified in concluding that the now-retired banker was
personally responsible for serious violations of
anti-money-laundering provisions and bank procedures.
Under Swiss reporting restrictions, the names involved in the
criminal case were not disclosed.
After a transaction in 2016, BSI, which is now part of fellow
Swiss bank EFG International, was involved in the legal problems
of the Malaysia fund. Singapore’s main regulator ordered the
closure of the Singapore branch of BSI. It also ordered the
closure of the Singapore business of Falcon Private Bank.
The 1MDB scandal is one of the largest cases of money laundering
ever. As much as $4.5 billion was allegedly embezzled - taken by
senior officials and various associates. Authorities in
Switzerland, Singapore and the US have since taken
action.
Goldman Sachs
has paid a total of $2.9 billion to worldwide regulators to
resolve failures linked to a Malaysian financial scandal. Goldman
Sachs underwrote, purchased and arranged three bond transactions
in 2012 and 2013, raising $6.5 billion for 1MDB.
The 1MDB scandal has prompted widespread navel-gazing among
global regulators and the financial services industry about the
effectiveness – or lack thereof – of AML restrictions and
associated controls.