“Coutts & Co Ltd has seriously breached money laundering regulations by failing to carry out adequate background checks into business relationships and transactions associated with 1MDB,” Finma said in a statement on Thursday.
Finma said it ordered the bank to disgorge unlawfully generated profits of 6.5 million Swiss francs (US$6.56 million) and will also consider opening enforcement proceedings against the bank employees responsible.
In December, Singapore’s central bank imposed a penalty of S$2.4 million (US$1.70 million) on Coutts, which was sold by Royal Bank of Scotland to Union Bancaire Privee in March 2015, for money laundering breaches related to 1MDB.