Anti Money Laundering News (15 Sep – 21 Sep 2025)
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Global AML News Weekly Digest. Here are the top stories making headlines around the world:
BaFin fines Varengold Bank €3.8M for AML failings
Germany’s banking supervisor BaFin has imposed a combined sanction of €3.8 million on Varengold Bank AG after finding serious, persistent shortcomings in anti-money-laundering controls and suspicious-transaction reporting — including breaches tied to Iran-linked payment flows and failures to follow up on prior remedial orders. BaFin’s public notice explains the administrative fine of €3.3 million together with a coercive penalty of €500,000 that was applied due to non-compliance with earlier instructions; the order became final and binding in early September and was publicly announced on 15 September. The decision focuses on systemic weaknesses in transaction monitoring, third-party/payment-agent oversight and suspicious-activity reporting that left the bank exposed to sanction- and geographic-risk flows. BaFin ordered immediate remediation measures and highlighted that repeated non-compliance can prompt layered administrative plus coercive penalties. For compliance teams, the Varengold action underscores tightening supervisory scrutiny of payment-flow and correspondent relationships and the practical risk of coercive (compulsory) penalties when remedial orders are ignored.
FINTRAC issues AMP to Primary Capital Inc. (Exempt Market Dealer)
Canada’s financial intelligence unit FINTRAC issued an Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP) to Primary Capital Inc., an exempt market dealer, after a compliance examination revealed insufficient and poorly documented AML/CFT policies and procedures, gaps in risk-based client due diligence, and recordkeeping failures. FINTRAC’s public notice (18 September) explains that the AMP is intended as both a corrective action and a sanction to encourage improved compliance practices in the securities and exempt-dealer sector — an area regulator have increasingly scrutinized ahead of Canada’s upcoming mutual evaluation cycles. Although the monetary amount is modest compared with bank fines, the decision is important because it demonstrates FINTRAC’s willingness to apply public financial penalties beyond traditional high-risk sectors (casinos, banks) and into securities-market participants. The AMP emphasises that regulated dealers must implement documented, proportionate, and tested AML frameworks — and that public AMPs will follow where material procedural gaps persist.
UK Gambling Commission fines Lottomart operator £360,000 for AML & social-responsibility failings
The UK Gambling Commission announced a regulatory sanction against Maple International Ventures Limited (operator of Lottomart.com), ordering the operator to pay £360,000 after an investigation identified serious failures in anti-money-laundering controls and social-responsibility safeguards. The Commission’s public notice (17 September) highlights lapses in customer identity verification, incomplete source-of-fund checks for higher-risk players, and inadequate monitoring for suspicious patterns (including possible mule-account activity). The penalty will be directed to socially responsible causes and is coupled with remedial requirements to strengthen governance, monitoring and written procedures. The case shows that online gambling operators face integrated enforcement for both AML and social-responsibility failings: regulators view weak protections in either area as compounding money-laundering risk. For compliance teams in iGaming and payments, the decision underlines the need for robust, real-time monitoring, rigorous CDD for account-based flows, and strong board-level oversight.
AMF fines real-estate asset manager Eternam €400,000 for professional-obligation breaches (AML exposure risk)
France’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) Enforcement Committee imposed a €400,000 fine on Eternam in a decision dated 9 September and published mid-September, citing breaches of professional obligations that included weak governance, insufficient conflicts-of-interest management and failures in internal control frameworks — deficiencies that can exacerbate money-laundering exposure in real-estate and property-linked investment vehicles. The AMF decision explains how shortcomings in selection of service providers, transparency to investors, and documentation can create opacity around the origin of funds — a classic vulnerability in property-related structures. The enforcement notice requires remedial governance and compliance steps and signals regulators’ readiness to hold asset managers accountable where professional-obligation breaches raise AML/CTF risk. For firms operating in property finance or real-estate funds, the action is a reminder to treat AML/CTF considerations as integral to fiduciary and disclosure duties.
ANZ agrees to pay AUD 240M (US$160M) in record penalties for corporate misconduct (in-scope AML / customer-harm remediations)
Australia’s ANZ Group agreed to pay A$240 million (reported ~US$160M) in penalties after admitting multiple misconducts spanning institutional and retail operations — including alleged unconscionable conduct in a government bond deal and systemic failures affecting customers (charging deceased customers, ignoring hardship notices, misreporting interest). Announced in mid-September, regulator statements and reporting emphasise that the package is the largest civil-penalty settlement sought by ASIC against a single entity and will be accompanied by a remediation plan to overhaul governance and risk controls. While the case is primarily corporate-conduct and consumer-harm focused, the enforcement falls squarely in the compliance and conduct ecosystem that overlaps with AML/CTF risk (weak governance and control frameworks often correlate with AML vulnerabilities). The settlement is pending court approval; it underlines how major penalties are now being used to enforce broad-based compliance culture and structural remediation.
ED Raids linked to ₹200 Crore Bank Fraud in India
On Sep 18, 2025, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out coordinated raids in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Tirupati in connection with a ₹200 crore bank fraud case allegedly tied to VK Sasikala. The probe targets GRK Reddy of the Marg Group, who is alleged to be a benamidar (proxy owner) under whose name assets have been held. The Income Tax Department had earlier flagged Reddy for asset holdings on behalf of others. The investigation involves tracking the diversion of bank loans and layering of funds through property deeds, financial records, and banking transactions.
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- #BaFin
- #Varengold
- #FINTRAC
- #PrimaryCapital
- #UKGC
- #Lottomart
- #AMF
- #Eternam
- #ANZ
- #ASIC
- #ED
- #Sasikala
