The Swiss regulator is to enforce a package of strict reforms on Julius Baer, one of the country’s largest banks, after finding “serious anti-money-laundering failings” in corruption cases linked to football federation Fifa and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or Finma, said on 20 February that Julius Baer “fell significantly short in combating money laundering between 2009 and 2018”. Concluding its investigations, Finma said it will now insist on alterations to the way the bank recruits, manages and pays bonuses to staff, as well as its methods for assessing risky wealth-management clients.
