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Latvia's AML efforts need revitalising, says premier
Josh O'Neill
2 May 2018
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis of Latvia has promised to invest more in bank surveillance after a US probe prompted the closure of ABLV, Latvia’s third-largest lender, by accusing it of money laundering and failing to enforce sanctions against North Korea. The number of suspicious banking transactions in Latvia referred to the financial intelligence unit is far lower than similar statistics for Switzerland and the European Union. In 2017, only 225 files were forwarded to Latvian enforcement authorities - a mere 1% of the transactions that the bank's software or staff detected, according to the government data seen by Reuters. For comparison, in Switzerland around 60% of internal suspicious activity reports were forwarded to police in 2016.