On September 15, 2023, FinCEN assessed a $15 million civil money penalty against Bancrédito International Bank and Trust Corporation (Bancrédito) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations. This is FinCEN’s first enforcement action against a Puerto Rican International Banking Entity (IBE), and includes the first violation for failure to implement and maintain an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program also known as the “Gap Rule.”
FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki said the following in a statement:
“Bancrédito processed millions of dollars in suspicious transactions through the United States on behalf of high-risk customers, providing correspondent accounts to foreign financial institutions without the required due diligence and reporting required by the BSA. With today’s action, FinCEN is sending the message that the era of easy money laundering through Puerto Rican IBEs is over.”
According to FinCEN’s press release, Bancrédito admitted to willfully violating the BSA between October 2015 and May 2022, by failing to timely report suspicious transactions to FinCEN; failing to establish a due diligence program for correspondent accounts established, maintained, administered, or managed in the United States for foreign financial institutions; and failing to implement and maintain an AML program.
Read FinCEN’s full press release here.
The consent order can be found here.