Bank of Valletta fined for not determining source of “substantial cash deposit”

The Bank of Valletta has been fined €20,000 by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit.

The reason which the FIAU gave for levying this administrative penalty is that the bank “failed to obtain specific information and/or supporting documentation to determine the source of funds of a substantial cash deposit made by a client, and was satisfied with a generic description as to the provenance of funds provided by the client, breaching its obligations under Regulation 7(1)(d) as further explained in Regulation 7(2)(a) of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism Regulations (S.L. 373.01)”.