Dutch ABN Amro Bank NV yesterday said it had reached a 480 million euro (US$576.8 million) settlement with prosecutors in the Netherlands over money laundering allegations, which would affect its first-quarter results.
ABN Amro said in a statement that it had agreed to pay a fine of 300 million euros and 180 million euros as disgorgement reflecting “the seriousness, scope and duration of the identified shortcomings” in combating money laundering.
The prosecution service said in a statement that its investigation was ongoing and that three former board members, who it did not name, had been identified as suspects said to be “effectively responsible for violation” of the anti-money laundering act.
Danske Bank A/S said its chief executive officer Chris Vogelzang, who had previously served on ABN’s executive board, was resigning after being targeted in a Dutch money laundering probe.
Vogelzang, who had been chief executive officer for less than two years at Denmark’s biggest bank, is to be replaced by Danske’s head of risk management, Carsten Egeriis.
Danske is itself the subject of multiple investigations into money laundering in the US and Europe. Vogelzang had been brought on board in 2019 in an effort to help the bank clean up its act and rehabilitate its image as a law-abiding, transparent institution.
“I am very surprised by the decision by the Dutch authorities,” Vogelzang said in the statement. “I left ABN Amro more than four years ago and am comfortable with the fact that I managed my management responsibilities with integrity and dedication. My status as a suspect does not imply that I will be charged.”
The investigation into ABN started a year after fellow Dutch bank ING Groep NV paid a record 775 million euro fine to settle a similar case.
Although the ING settlement stated that no bank managers would be prosecuted, a Dutch court in December last year ordered a criminal investigation into the role of former chief executive officer Ralph Hamers in the affair after all.
Prosecutors in September 2019 accused ABN Amro of failing to spot accounts involved in money laundering, failing to end relations with suspicious clients and failing to report such transactions to the relevant authorities.
“This settlement marks the end of a painful and disappointing episode for ABN Amro,” chief executive Robert Swaak said.
“The lessons we have learned from this experience drive us in our continued effort as gatekeepers to achieve a safer society and a financial system that meets the highest standards of integrity,” he said.
ABN said it deeply regretted the matter and “that it has fallen short in the fulfillment of its role as gatekeeper aimed at combating money laundering.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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