About the Proposal of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury

Riga, Latvia, February 13, 2018, 20:00 / Banking

ABLV Bank, AS has reviewed the Proposal regarding ABLV Bank by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. After preliminary examination of the document, we believe that this Proposal uses obviously unfounded and misleading information. The report leaves out significant information on the bank’s efforts in the field of money laundering and terrorism financing prevention in the last years.

ABLV Bank, AS emphasizes that the prepared report is merely a proposal of the Department, to which objections may be submitted in writing within 60 days. The Bank is currently contemplating possibilities to file a protest against this FinCEN Proposal and shall make every care to rebut this outrageous defamatory information.

ABLV would like to stress that this is not a decision that anyhow restrains the bank’s operation, yet it causes a major damage to its reputation.

We are working closely together with the regulator in order to provide any required information.

ABLV Bank would like to point out that in its operation it is consistently obeying all and any Latvian and international, including European Union, laws and regulatory requirements. Over the last years, ABLV Bank has put forth tremendous effort in order to improve its internal control system in general and specifically in money laundering and terrorism financing prevention, and sanctions risk management.

The Bank has carried out several independent inspections in the field of preventing money laundering and terrorism financing inter alia closely cooperating the U.S. consultants Navigant Consulting and K2 Intelligence.  The Bank has duly implemented all the recommendations received from the independent consultants.

The Bank is also working with Financial Integrity Network (FIN), its strategic consultant from USA, engaging them as the key strategic consultant in compliance matters regarding prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.

Artūrs Eglītis
ABLV Group Communications Leader
ABLV Bank, AS
Tel.: +371 6700 2454
e-mail: arturs.eglitis@ablv.com