The impact of a modest, though unprecedented, fine against an anti-money laundering officer in Germany last year is apparently still felt by the country's bankers, who are now lobbying federal lawmakers to scrap individual liability before the EU's latest AML directive takes effect. In July 2017, a court in Frankfurt fined the chief AML officer of "a major international bank" €12,500 for waiting several months to flag a €500,000 cash deposit by an ex-chancellor's widow as suspicious. The compliance officer argued in an appeal that the payment required further analysis before being reported, and in April 2018 was ordered to...
Legislation up for debate in Germany would prompt banks to review and possibly reconsider their correspondent ties with financial institutions in several EU nations, including Malta, Latvia and Cyprus, sources told ACAMS moneylaundering.com.
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