AMSTERDAM, Aug 11 (Reuters) – De Volksbank’s systems to prevent money laundering have been deemed insufficient by the Dutch central bank (DNB) and it will likely face a fine, the Dutch state-owned bank said on Friday.
The bank, which incorporates several smaller Dutch banks such as SNS and ASN, disclosed the findings along with its first-half results.
“We regret that we were not able to fulfil our gate watcher role with respect to client integrity and that we are at this moment in violation of certain legal obligations with respect to money laundering” laws, Chairman Martijn Gribnau said in a statement.
The bank said it was working to make changes required by the DNB before April 1.
In its earnings report, the bank said first-half net profit nearly tripled to 248 million euros ($273 million) from 95 million euros in the first half of 2022, benefitting from higher rates paid on deposits at the European Central Bank, which helped interest margins.
The much larger Dutch banks ING and ABN Amro have settled DNB complaints over shortcomings in their money laundering control systems, with ING paying 775 million euros in 2018, and ABN Amro paying 480 million euros in 2021. Rabobank is still under investigation.
De Volksbank combines several Dutch banks that were nationalised in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
(This story has been corrected to say that Rabobank is still under investigation and has not settled the DNB complaint, in paragraph 6)
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Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter
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