Chinapore News No. 67 - Chinese Banks Major Money Laundering Concern in S'pore

Bank of China Comes Under Scrutiny

Currency Smuggled

In 2015 the Italian daily publication La Repubblica said that between 2006 and 2010 over 4.5 billion euros was smuggled to China, with 2.2 billion euros going via the Bank of China's (BOC) Milan branch.

Denouncing it as an awe-inspiring hemorrhage of money to China while Italian businesses were dying, torn apart by Chinese competition, the daily said 287 Chinese citizens in Italy were being probed, along with four bank officials.

http://www.finews.asia/finance/22152-bank-of-china-comes-under-scrutiny

Spanish Police Arrest Five in ICBC Money-Laundering Probe

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.’s offices in Madrid were searched and five of its managers arrested on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into the suspected laundering of at least 40 million euros ($44 million).

The raid is part of a wider investigation conducted last year into the activities of Chinese-organized crime groups in Spain and resulted in the arrest of the ICBC managers, the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol said in a statement on its website. The Beijing-based bank, the world’s largest lender, allegedly facilitated the transfer to China of money obtained through trafficking and other illegal means, police said in an earlier statement on Wednesday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ce-arrest-five-in-icbc-money-laundering-probe

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced the execution of the following enforcement action:

China Construction Bank Corporation, Beijing, People's Republic of China, and China Construction Bank New York Branch (PDF), New York, New York
Written Agreement dated July 16, 2015

https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/enforcement/enf20150721a1.pdf

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f9c975f8-ceba-11e3-8e62-00144feabdc0.html

Singapore overtakes London for offshore renminbi trading

However, data from Swift, the global payments system, showed that the value of renminbi payments processed through Singapore had risen 375 per cent in the year to March, overtaking London in February.

Singapore accounts for 6.8 per cent of all offshore renminbi-denominated currency payments, compared with 5.9 per cent for London, according to Swift. Hong Kong accounts for 72 per cent.

http://amlabc.com/aml-category/aml-news/money-laundering-moving-to-rmb-as-us-cracks-down/

Money laundering moving to RMB as US cracks down

Money launderers will increasingly move away from the US dollar to the renminbi as US authorities continue to crack down on international banks’ AML systems. The shift will have consequences for London’s aspirations to become a global centre for RMB clearing and settlement.