Citigroup Fined Over Failure to Fix Money-Laundering Safeguards

(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $70 million to settle a regulator's finding that the bank failed to fix problems cited six years ago in a complaint over its money-laundering safeguards.

The bank hasn't done enough to improve filing of suspicious-activity reports and scrutiny of customers in response to a 2012 order, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday. Citigroup consented to the agency's findings without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the agency said. The company has already paid the fine, the OCC said.

“Citi is committed to taking all necessary and appropriate steps to remedy the concerns identified by the OCC,” Rob Runyan, a Citigroup spokesman, said in a statement. The bank has made “substantial investments” to improve its money-laundering protections, he said.

Citigroup last year agreed to forfeit $97 million in a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice tied to an investigation into its former Banamex USA unit. That followed a $140 million settlement in 2015 with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and California regulators involving deficiencies with money-laundering controls at the same subsidiary, which has since been shuttered.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Hamilton in Washington at jhamilton33@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jesse Westbrook at jwestbrook1@bloomberg.net, Gregory Mott

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.