Germany's Commerzbank fined for neglecting anti-money laundering work

Germany's financial authority has imposed a €1.45 million fine on Commerzbank due to the bank's inadequate efforts to prevent money laundering, reported dpa.

Commerzbank and its online subsidiary Comdirect Bank, which the bank fully acquired in 2020, had violated their supervisory duties, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) announced on Monday.

"As a result of insufficient supervision, employees violated money laundering obligations by not updating customer data in a timely manner or sufficiently and by taking insufficient internal security measures," the authority wrote.

In addition, the enhanced due diligence obligations were inadequately applied in three cases due to the breach of supervisory duties, Bafin said.

According to a Commerzbank spokeswoman, the necessary adaptation of processes and updating of data was already fully completed in 2022.

The issue stems from the integration of the online subsidiary Comdirect Bank into the group. In the process, requirements for checking the legitimacy of new customers as well as processes and checks for updating customer data at Comdirect were reviewed, she said.

"The bank was in constant close contact with the responsible supervisory authority," said the spokeswoman. Commerzbank naturally complied with the requirements of Bafin, she added.

According to the information provided, the fine has been legally binding since March 28.