Credit Suisse fined $16.5 million by FINRA over anti-money laundering controls

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said on Monday it has fined Credit Suisse's U.S.-based securities business $16.5 million for ineffective anti-money laundering programs.

According to FINRA’s action, Credit Suisse’s suspicious activity monitoring program was deficient on two fronts.

Credit Suisse primarily relied on its registered reps to identify and escalate potentially suspicious trading, including in microcap stock transactions, but “high-risk activity was not always escalated and investigated as required,” FINRA states.

Also, the firm's automated surveillance system to monitor for potentially suspicious money movements was not properly implemented, according to FINRA.

FINRA was careful to say it did not find that Credit Suisse or any employees committed fraud or deceptive acts.
These failures, FINRA continued, “extended to potentially suspicious trades made in omnibus accounts of the firm’s foreign affiliates. As a result, FINRA found that from 2011 to 2013, the firm facilitated the illegal distribution of at least 55 million unregistered shares of securities. The firm subsequently implemented additional procedures limiting the trading of microcap securities.”

A Credit Suisse spokesman said the bank was pleased with the settlement. "We cooperated with FINRA's inquiry and have been taking appropriate internal remedial efforts," a spokesman said. Credit Suisse neither admitted nor denied the charges but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.