FINRA Fines Credit Suisse For Letting Its Money Laundering Oversight Get A Little Too Swiss

With the banking sector having itself a pretty rowdy Trump party in the last few weeks, even ennui-filled Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam is likely having himself a little giggle and happy dance when no one is looking.

But that doesn't mean that everything is peachy in the world of financials, and giggly Thiam is dealing with his share of low-grade ass pains as the year comes to a merciful end. For instance, FINRA just concluded a look into Credit Suisse's money laundering prevention program and found it to be, well, a little too Swiss for its liking.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said on Monday it has fined Credit Suisse's U.S.-based securities business $16.5 million for ineffective anti-money laundering programs.
FINRA, the securities industry self-regulator, found that Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC relied on its brokers to identify and report suspicious trading, which did not always happen.
FINRA also found the effectiveness of its automated system used to monitor suspicious transactions was impeded because many of the data feeds were missing information.

$16.5 mil is a super-weak slap on the wrist for a huge global bank, and Credit Suisse can learn to be a little more FrenchGerman nosy if that's what it takes. And compared to how things were going for Thiam and his team a few months back, an eight-digit tsk tsk for being laissez faire on suspicious trading is something of a 2016 highlight.

What we're saying is, congratulations to Credit Suisse on your paltry fine for potentially dangerous behavior. Happy Holidays.

FINRA fines Credit Suisse over anti-money laundering policies [Reuters]