Request for halt to Santander takeover - Riggs Bank

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LEADING US-based human rights group has written to Britain's financial regulator urging it to halt Santander's £8bn acquisition of Abbey National until it fully investigates its part in the alleged "violation" of US money laundering laws.
Inner City Press and its Fair Finance Watch, based in New York, has drawn the Financial Services Authority's attention to the US Senate's recent report on Riggs Bank's alleged money laundering for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and the dictator of Equatorial Guinea.

Earlier this year, Senate investigators said Riggs Bank helped Pinochet hide millions of dollars in assets from international prosecutors while he was under house arrest in the UK.
Pages 55 and 56 of the report state that Riggs asked two banks – HSBC and Santander – for the identities of the beneficial owners of accounts belonging to Apexside and another company.
Following the request, Santander's New York office responded that the account had been opened by its parent bank in Madrid, but that it could not disclose the account's beneficial owners because of Spanish statutes which prevent disclosure of bank information, even in cases of suspected money laundering.

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A LEADING US-based human rights group has written to Britain's financial regulator urging it to halt Santander's £8bn acquisition of Abbey National until it fully investigates its part in the alleged "violation" of US money laundering laws.
Inner City Press and its Fair Finance Watch, based in New York, has drawn the Financial Services Authority's attention to the US Senate's recent report on Riggs Bank's alleged money laundering for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and the dictator of Equatorial Guinea.

Earlier this year, Senate investigators said Riggs Bank helped Pinochet hide millions of dollars in assets from international prosecutors while he was under house arrest in the UK.
Pages 55 and 56 of the report state that Riggs asked two banks – HSBC and Santander – for the identities of the beneficial owners of accounts belonging to Apexside and another company.
Following the request, Santander's New York office responded that the account had been opened by its parent bank in Madrid, but that it could not disclose the account's beneficial owners because of Spanish statutes which prevent disclosure of bank information, even in cases of suspected money laundering.
Santander was even prevented from disclosing the information to its US subsidiary under the terms of the law.

The Senate report added: "This bar on disclosure across international lines, even within the same financial institution, presents a significant obstacle to US anti-money laundering efforts."
A spokesman for Santander last night said that it was bound by the laws which govern it. He denied the Riggs report was critical of Santander, noting the criticism was against the bar on disclosure across international lines. Nonetheless, in its letter to the FSA, Fair Finance Watch said: "This proposed acquisition (of Abbey) should not be permitted, at least not until the troubling issues raised herein are fully addressed, responded to, and acted on."

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http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/24582.html

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1. kick

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