Private bank Coutts & Co Ltd (Coutts), which has client accounts linked to the 1MDB controversy, has warned investors that it may be penalised by Swiss authorities.
In a filing to the London stock exchange, London-based Coutts said the client accounts are the subject of Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma).
"The proceedings are at an advanced stage. Coutts is also cooperating with investigations, one of which is at an advanced stage and may conclude in the near term, and enquiries from authorities in other jurisdictions in relation to the same subject matter...
"Investigations and enquiries are uncertain but may include financial penalties and/or regulatory sanctions," said Coutts in the filing dated Oct 28.
Coutts is was subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) incorporated in Switzerland. It has since been sold to Union Bancaire Privée.
The bank was first came under the spotlight as linked to the 1MDB scandal in a report by UK-based Sarawak Report and Sunday Times last February.
According to the reports, Coutts handled the monies that was meant for the 1MDB-PetroSaudi International joint venture in 2009.
A large portion of that sum allegedly went to Good Star Ltd's account in Coutts Zurich.
Details on Finma's investigations remains vague, although some reports such as that from the Financial Times in April suggests that it is related to the "Good Star account".
What is known, however, is that Finma has claimed that at least US$4 billion had been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies and that a portion of that money was transferred to Swiss accounts by former Malaysian public officials, and former and current officials from the United Arab Emirates. - Mkini
Also to share this - Mar 27 2012 - Money 'laundering' at the Queen's bank: Coutts fined £8.75m for taking despots' millions
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120867/Money-laundering-Queens-bank-Coutts-fined-8-75m-taking-despots-millions.html#ixzz4OZL86REj
Apr 2, 2012 Malaysia's CIMB buys RBS units to expand Asian footprint - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cimb-rbs-idUSBRE83109B20120402
ReplyDeleteDecember 2, 2013 - "CIMB yet to break even after buying RBS, says Nazir Razak - The London-based business news paper reported the influential banker as saying that he had miscalculated the difficulties of smoothing out the costs and combining the businesses, as well as the length of time it would take to replace some of RBS’ licences that the Edinburgh-based bank wanted to retain after the April 2012 agreement..." -
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/money/article/cimb-yet-to-break-even-after-buying-rbs-says-nazir-razak