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AEON Bank told to improve measures against money laundering and terrorism financing
Japan's FSA suspected the bank of having left 14,369 transactions unaccounted for.
AEON Bank has received a notification from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan to submit a business improvement plan to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
This comes after FSA's on-site inspection in which the agency found inappropriate business operations regarding countermeasures against money laundering and terrorism financing and handling suspicious transaction reports.
The bank is suspected of having left at least 14,639 transactions without making judgments as to whether they fall under suspicious transactions, constituting a violation of the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds.
It also failed to take measures for its systems necessary for developing the relevant control environment as requested by the Guidelines and has not also completed the development of rules, etc.
Moreover, its board of directors and management team have had multiple opportunities to ascertain those facts but have failed to exercise initiative or give instructions to develop a controlled environment.
Further, the bank has not allocated personnel necessary for the business operations regarding the reporting of suspicious transactions.