US Fed demands Ziraat Bank plan on money laundering

NEW YORK

The U.S. Central Bank Fed and Turkey’s state-run Ziraat Bank have inked a deal that obliges the latter to submit an “acceptable written plan” against money laundering in two months.

“Within 60 days of the submission of the compliance report, the bank and the branch [of Ziraat in New York] shall jointly submit to the supervisors [New York State Department of Financial Services] an acceptable written enhanced BSA/AML compliance program for the branch,” the deal said.

“BSA/AML” refers to the anti-money laundering rules and regulations of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

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,” the deal along with many other requirements.

Within 30 days after the end of each month following the date of the agreement, Ziraat will submit to the supervisors written progress reports detailing the form and manner of all actions taken to secure compliance with the provisions of the agreement.

Within 60 days, Ziraat is 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.

The supervisors also hold the right to expand the period for another six months.