I.N.G. has accepted its penalty after having admitted to having financial crime policy errors. The Dutch bank is now facing fines of €775 million and has taken “full responsibility.”
Errors in Stopping Financial Crime
Dutch bank I.N.G. has been fined €775 million for having made critical errors within its financial crime stopping policies. The bank has accepted the penalty and has agreed to pay it. Its chief executive, Ralph Hamers said that the bank was taking “full responsibility” for its actions and for what had happened as a result of them.
I.N.G. has stated that it regrets the mistakes it has made. It acknowledged that its errors made it possible for some of its customers to use their accounts for illegal activities. These activities consisted of practices including money laundering. Those practices took place from 2010 through 2016.
Hamers’ Response
CEO and chairman of the board Hamers said that I.N.G.’s operations have to “meet the highest standards.” Furthermore, he added that not meeting those standards is simply “unacceptable.”
Netherlands I.N.G. chief executive, Vincent van den Boogert, stated that the bank was “taking a number of robust measures to strengthen our compliance risk management.”
Investigation by Dutch Authorities
Dutch authorities investigated the issue of I.N.G.’s policies and processes to stop potential criminal activities from occurring. They determined that there was no evidence that staff at the bank had assisted customers who may have been using I.N.G.’s banking services in order to complete these illegal activities.
The authority’s ruling was that the errors in crime prevention at the bank was not the result of any individual staff member’s activities. Instead, it was the result of “collective shortcomings at all responsible management levels.”
Regardless of this conclusion, I.N.G. has implemented a number of measures against several former senior employees. These measures included freezing some of the former employees’ financial packages.
Dutch Prosecutors
Dutch prosecutors released a statement in which they said: “Clients for years were able to make use of I.N.G. bank accounts for criminal activities pretty much undisturbed.” It went on to add that: “I.N.G. should have seen that the money streams that ran through those bank accounts possibly were coming from crime.”
I.N.G. was issued an initial fine of €675 million, on top of a €100 million payment it was ordered to make for disgorgement, in order to compensate for inadequate staffing spending from 2010 through 2016.