FinCEN Rescinds Financial Restrictions Against Latvian Bank
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network revoked a 2018 determination that designated Latvian bank ABLV Bank, AS as a money laundering concern, saying the bank no longer meets the criteria and should no longer face special financial restrictions.
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Those FinCEN restrictions had blocked certain financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts in the U.S. for or on behalf of ABLV. Those measures will be rescinded because the agency said the bank is “no longer a financial institution of primary money laundering concern.”
FinCEN said the bank is undergoing an “irrevocable liquidation process” overseen by the Latvian government, “which ensures anti-money laundering/countering terrorist financing (AML/CFT) compliance.” The agency also said Latvian authorities “have undertaken significant efforts to identify and address past illicit activity facilitated by the bank, resulting in criminal charges against owners of the bank and its senior managers.”
FinCEN said it “recognizes the notable progress made by the Government of Latvia to substantially strengthen its AML/CFT regime through a series of meaningful legal and regulatory reforms of its financial sector.” Those changes have led to “strengthened authorities, institutional capacity, and substantially reduced non-resident deposit activity in Latvia, a principal source of FinCEN’s money laundering concern at the time” it made its determination in 2018.