AMSTERDAM, Netherlands—ING Bank N.V. has accepted and paid a settlement of EUR 775,000,000 offered by the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service (NPPS).
The NPPS has accused ING in the Netherlands of having violated the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act (AML/CTF Act) for many years and on a structural basis, Openbaar Ministerie reported.
“This took place in such a way that the bank is also accused of culpable money laundering: the bank failed to prevent bank accounts held by ING clients in the Netherlands between 2010 and 2016 from being used to launder hundreds of millions of euros,” Openbaar Ministerie reported.
ING is an internationally operating bank. ING's banking services in the Netherlands are provided by the business unit ING Bank Netherlands (ING NL). According to the NPPS, ING NL did not properly fulfil its role as gatekeeper of the financial system, as outlined in the AML/CTF Act.
‘Seriously Deficient’
The criminal investigation revealed that ING NL was seriously deficient in this respect. As a result, clients were able to use accounts held with ING NL for criminal activities for many years, virtually undisturbed. According to the NPPS, ING NL should have seen that certain cash flows through bank accounts held by ING NL clients were possibly the result of crime, Openbaar Ministerie reported.
“In that respect, the bank wrongly took insufficient action. For this reason, the NPPS accuses the bank of not only violating the AML/CTF Act, but also of culpable money laundering,” Openbaar Ministerie said.