BNM fines company, 2 banks over sanctions breaches

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has imposed administrative monetary penalties on a fintech company and two banks for breaching targeted financial sanctions requirements. On April 15, BNM fined Setel Ventures Sdn Bhd RM637,500 for failing to promptly update its sanctions database after the release of BNM's Domestic List.

The regulator found that Setel did not conduct proper sanctions screening of its customers, leading to potential matches being missed. However, Setel has since rectified its SOPs and enhanced its internal systems for compliance with the Travel Finance Sanctions (TFS) regulations. The company paid the penalty on May 6.

Separately, BNM imposed fines of RM132,000 each on Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia and Standard Chartered Saadiq for not updating their sanctions databases immediately following the Domestic List release. This resulted in screening being conducted against outdated databases, but no specified entities were onboarded, and no transactions involving them were facilitated.

Both banks acknowledged gaps in their sanctions screening controls and promised to strengthen oversight and improve the timeliness of their screening processes. On June 15, both banks paid the RM132,000 penalties to BNM. The central bank stated that these enforcement actions adhere to the approach and processes outlined in its Enforcement Approach.