Spain has fined Banca March €605,424 for two very serious breaches of the country's anti-money laundering law, according to a notice published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 31 January 2025.
The sanctions were imposed by the Council of Ministers on 3 September 2024, on the proposal of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, in disciplinary proceedings AMG/4006/2023. The notice was issued by the Secretariat of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offences, as the sanctions had become final through the administrative route.
TWO BREACHES
The penalty comprises two fines of €302,712 each, both accompanied by a public reprimand, under Law 10/2010 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The first relates to a failure to apply enhanced due diligence measures and the second to a failure to carry out the special examination of transactions required by the law.
Both breaches would ordinarily be classed as serious. They were treated as very serious because the bank had received a final administrative sanction for the same type of infringement within the previous five years.
BANK HAS APPEALED
The BOE notice states that the sanctions have been challenged before the Supreme Court in contentious-administrative proceedings.
Banca March said it had appealed the sanction and described it as a purely formal matter arising from an administrative procedure previously agreed between its clients and the Spanish Tax Agency. The bank said the case concerned a deposit linked to a tax regularisation that the Tax Agency had approved in advance, and that it accepted the deposit after verifying that approval. It said it considered its conduct fully correct and in line with anti-money laundering legislation.
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