ING settles Netherlands money laundering case for EUR 775 million

Dutch prosecutors said today that they had settled a money laundering case with lender ING Groep NV for EUR 775 million, Reuters reports.

Prosecutors had blamed ING for violating the Dutch law on preventing money laundering and financing terrorism “structurally and for years” by not stopping accounts from being used for money laundering between 2010 and 2016. They said that ING had failed its gatekeeper duties by sometimes not identifying the ultimate beneficial owners of accounts and not noticing unusual transaction that ran through those accounts.

As a result, according to prosecutors, “clients for years were able to make use of ING bank accounts for criminal activities pretty much undisturbed.” They added that the bank should have noticed that the money streams were possibly coming from crime.

Of the total amount, EUR 675 million was a fine and EUR 100 million was a disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.

ING reacted by saying it deeply regretted its failures: “Not meeting the required standards is unacceptable and ING takes full responsibility.”

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The bank said its executive board, headed by CEO Ralph Hamers, had agreed to forego any bonus for 2018.