JPMorgan ‘Seriously Breached’ Money-Laundering Rules, Swiss Regulator Says<br />The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, known as Finma, said Thursday<br />that it was installing a person inside the bank to monitor and review its money laundering policies, “given the inadequacy of the bank’s controls and the serious breaches which have been identified in this case.”<br />Swiss authorities, along with counterparts in the United States<br />and Singapore, opened investigations after money went missing from the fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, known as 1MDB.<br />Brian Marchiony, a JPMorgan spokesman, said the Swiss action “relates to matters<br />that took place many years ago.” He added that “since that time we have increased training, added staff and made improvements in monitoring and surveillance.”<br />This is the latest instance of JPMorgan drawing censure for not doing enough to prevent money laundering.<br />According to Finma, JPMorgan’s Swiss unit helped several individuals tap into the fund, transferring “hundreds of millions of dollars”<br />that were meant to be used for 1MDB’s purchase of a company to the personal account of someone tied to a 1MDB business partner.<br />Switzerland’s financial regulator said JPMorgan Chase’s Swiss subsidiary “seriously breached” anti-money laundering rules by completing transactions with a Malaysian government investment fund<br />that is under investigation in at least six countries.<br />The bank had to overhaul its anti-money laundering practices as part of an inquiry into whether lapses<br />in its internal controls had allowed Bernard L. Madoff to keep a $50 billion Ponzi scheme going.
