WASHINGTON — The New York-based branch of Doha Bank must pay a $5 million fine for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, regulators said Tuesday.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network fined the bank based on an investigation that began nearly three years ago for failure to "monitor suspicious activities," the regulators said.
The suspicious activity occurred in relation to the bank's fund transfers, foreign correspondence and other services. The agencies said Doha Bank had failed to set up a proper system to monitor and report suspicious activity.
"Despite the current economic and resource challenges that many banks may face, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance efforts must not be diminished," FinCEN's Director James Freis, Jr. said in a the release. He said banks must produce "timely, complete and accurate Suspicious Activity Reports" to assist law enforcement officials in the detection of financial crimes.
