Gaps in French law, poor compliance and awareness by French firms, or a combination of those things kept financial crime in France's real estate and art sectors alarmingly high in 2020, authorities said, even as a new threat emerged in the form of disruptive financial technology.
Bank of China's payment of nearly €4 million to settle charges of laundering the proceeds of tax fraud and other crimes in France could spur similar settlements of cases against banks in the country, sources said.
A round of regulatory examinations in France have exposed inadequate communications between French banks and their overseas affiliates for anti-money laundering purposes, the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority, or ACPR, claimed.