The Latvian bank Signet Bank was fined

Another victim of the fight against money laundering in the Baltic States

The Baltic States remain a dangerous zone for banks and financial companies, and the proof of this is another fine to a local bank. This time, the Latvian bank Signet Bank received a fine of 906,610 euros for violations of anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.

The attention of financial regulators to the activities of Baltic financial institutions does not weaken, even after the high-profile fines from the Swedish Financial Inspectorate to the SEB Group banking group and Swedbank Bank for violating the rules on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which we wrote about earlier: https://antwort-law.com/otkryt-bankovskij-schet-v-pribaltike-stanet-slozhnee/.

The proof of this is the recent fine from FKTK — Finanšu un kapitāla tirgus komisija (Financial and Capital Market Commission). The financial regulator of Latvia has found that Signet Bank violated the legislative norms on combating money laundering and terrorist financing (AML). Just for similar violations in the work of the Baltic branches, SEB Group banks and Swedbank bank were previously fined.

What will a million-dollar fine lead to another Baltic bank for violating AML rules? The forecast from Antwort Law specialists remains the same – a significant complication in the work of clients (especially foreign ones) with banks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will soon follow. Moreover, this situation will persist for more than one year, and foreign businesses should prepare for it – put all the documentation in order and, if possible, open a backup bank account in another jurisdiction.

Antwort Law Company is always at your service – our specialists will be happy to help you in opening foreign bank accounts and/or help in preparing answers for the bank. Moreover, if your account is already blocked, we will definitely find a way to unblock it and help resolve this issue.