ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the exposure of banks and their employees to criminal sanctions in the context of three offences which, although not exclusive to banks, are particularly relevant to banks’ business, namely, money laundering (ML), market abuse and bribery. The discussion addresses the relevant international standards and domestic criminal legislation as well as additional regulatory sanctions. The against money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) legal framework, as far as it concerns banks, consists of two elements: first, a set of criminal offences that target ML and terrorist financing (TF) activity in a very broad manner; second, a detailed set of rules that impose on banks obligations to adopt appropriate internal controls and procedures to prevent ML and TF. For banks these offences are relevant as bank employees, including clerks and cashiers operating day-to-day transactions, can be held criminally liable. The applicable regulatory framework has also introduced obligations for banks to perform customer due diligence, to make suspicious activity reports with respect to particular transactions, to appoint a dedicated nominated officer, to ensure that senior management has overall responsibility to prevent ML and TF and to conduct periodic risk assessments.
