Credit Suisse told to tighten money-laundering compliance by US

Credit Suisse has 90 days to convince US regulators that it can pull its compliance policy into line. Martin Ruetschi

Switzerland’s Credit Suisse bank has been ordered to strengthen measures it uses to combat money-laundering offences in the United States.

The bank has been given 90 days to present a credible plan to the US Federal Reserve and New York State Department of Financial Services, the entities that issued the demand.

Last week the Swiss federal prosecutor brought criminal charges against Credit Suisse, alleging that its “flawed” compliance regime allowed a Bulgarian criminal operation to launder money through the bank. Credit Suisse has vigorously denied the allegations.

There is no suggestion that there is a connection between the Swiss charges and subsequent regulatory demands in the USExternal link.

New Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein recently told the Financial Times that he intends the bank to put a difficult year behind it in 2021. Over the past few months the bank lost its previous CEO as the result of a spying scandal and has racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in legal and regulatory problems.

“There will never be a totally clean slate. We will always have issues, but it’s certainly my goal to start 2021 with as clean a slate as possible,” Gottstein said in the interview.