As for now, she said that BNM has required banks to put in place strong controls to safeguard the integrity of the financial system.

These measures include complying with the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amla) requirements, carrying out proper customer due diligence, and ongoing monitoring of suspicious activities.

“Our regulations also require banks to screen employees and prospective employees and identify those predisposed to misconduct in order to mitigate ‘rolling bad apples’,” she said at the launch of the central bank’s 2022 annual report question-and-answer session today.

“We view this matter seriously and expect banks to take remedial and disciplinary actions where appropriate in response to any findings.

“BNM will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement actions towards banks in response to any unresolved control deficiencies,” she added.

Her statement was made in reference to the MACC’s busting of an international scamming syndicate last week under an operation codenamed Ops Tropicana.

According to the New Straits Times, at least 20 employees of five major local banks – including auditors and frontline officers – had facilitated such syndicates to open accounts without any hassle.

These accounts were then used by scammers to collect cash deposited by deceived victims, with daily transactions of up to RM1 million.