Turkey’s Ziraat Bank dubs Fed’s money-laundering action plan request ‘routine’

ANKARA

State-owned Ziraat Bank has dismissed questions over the reason for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s request for a money laundering action plan, describing the deal between the two parties as a “consensus reached as a result of routine auditing.”

The Fed announced on July 4 that the U.S. central bank and Ziraat Bank had inked a deal obliging the latter to submit an “acceptable written plan” against money laundering within two months.

Ziraat’s authorities rushed to dismiss any extraordinary situation, however, saying the agreement was reached after routine controls and denying claims that a suspicious transaction had been discovered at a New York branch.

“There is not a problematic process. A consensus has been reached over business-making methods and this consensus has been announced. If a doubtful situation had been detected, the banking license would be annulled at that moment,” Ziraat stated.

According to the deal, Ziraat and its New York branch should submit an “acceptable” anti-money laundering rules and regulations compliance program to the New York State Department of Financial Services.

According to the deal undersigned July 1 by Fed Senior Vice President Christopher Calabia and Ziraat Bank Executive Vice President Yüksel Cesur, the program should include “A well-documented methodology for establishing monitoring rules and thresholds appropriate for the branch’s profile which considers factors such as type of customer, type of product or service, and geographic location,” along with a number of other requirements.

Within 60 days, Ziraat is also obliged to hire an independent consultant to conduct a review of its New York branch’s U.S. dollar clearing transaction activity from July 1, 2012, to Dec. 31, 2012, to determine whether “suspicious activity involving high risk customers or transactions” were properly identified and reported.