Swiss ban Gazprombank Switzerland from accepting new private clients

Switzerland’s financial regulator has banned Gazprombank Switzerland from taking on new private clients after identifying serious shortcomings in its anti-money laundering processes.

The Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) on Thursday said the Swiss branch of the Russian bank had “failed to carry out “adequate economic background clarifications into business relationships and transactions with increased money laundering risks”.

An investigation launched in 2016 into 30 Swiss banks based on information from the Panama Papers leaks found the Swiss subsidiary of the Russian state-owned bank to be in serious breach of anti-money laundering due diligence requirements between 2006 and 2016.

“No new relationships with private clients may be accepted and existing relationships must be strictly monitored,” FINMA said in a statement.

In a separate statement released on Thursday, Gazprombank Switzerland said it accepted FINMA’s decision. It said the measures related exclusively to its business with private clients and added that it was primarily engaged in corporate banking.