The fine concerns a total of 11 violations related to violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law.
The Financial Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia issued a decision by which Zagrebačka banka (ZABA) is found guilty as the supervision of the Croatian National Bank (HNB) determined that in the period from 1 January 2017 to 8 November 2019 it did not implement all necessary measures, actions and procedures prescribed by the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law. Therefore, the bank was sentenced a single fine in the amount of HRK 33m.
The decision of the Financial Inspectorate was made and became final on 30 October 2020. HNB noted that such a fine is the highest misdemeanour ever imposed on a credit institution in Croatia.
HNB has identified a total of 11 violations related to violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law, in the following areas:
- Risk assessment of an individual business relationship
- Identifying and tracking suspicious, complex and unusual transactions
- Reporting suspicious transactions to the Anti-Money Laundering Office
- Implementation of measures of enhanced in-depth analysis of the parties
- A system of internal controls to reduce and effectively manage the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.
ZABA published an announcement on the ZSE stating that the bank accepted the proposal for an agreement with HNB, while the Financial Inspectorate accepted the mentioned agreement of the parties.
The bank adds that the payment within 30 days of the decision of the Financial Inspectorate results in an outflow of HRK 22m, which is already in their 9M results. To read more about the banks 9M 2020 results click here.
Also the full decision can be found here (Croatian only).
