UBS Fined by Swiss for Failing to Report Yemen-Linked Accounts

(Bloomberg) — UBS AG has been fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($55,000) by Swiss authorities for failing to report cases of suspected money laundering linked to the ex-president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The amount is the highest possible penalty the Swiss finance ministry could hand down to a legal entity, while fines against an individual would have been higher. The proceedings against UBS began in 2021, and it took two years for prosecutors to obtain the relevant files from the bank, the ministry said in an e-mailed response to questions.

UBS neglected to report the cases “despite well-founded suspicion that the origin of the funds was from corruption,” according to the ministry. Broadcaster SRF initially reported the fine Thursday, which has been legally enforceable since May 4. 

The case was particularly serious as UBS allowed account holders to withdraw funds so they couldn’t be frozen, the ministry said. UBS declined to comment on the fine. 

Swiss banks are legally obliged to report any suspicious financial activity to MROS, the Money-Laundering Reporting Office of Switzerland. Prosecutors can press criminal charges against banks if they believe those institutions didn’t do enough to screen clients and their cash for obvious ties to illicit activity.

Credit Suisse, which UBS rescued last March, struggled to retain shareholder confidence in part because of a series of financial scandals. Nine months before its rescue, Credit Suisse was convicted of failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine trafficker, in the first ever criminal conviction of a major Swiss lender in the country’s history.

Read more: Credit Suisse Convicted in Historic Money-Laundering Case

(Updates with UBS declined to comment)

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