UBS fined $125 million for breaches of anti-money laundering legislation
This is the largest fine ever imposed on a broker-dealer for breaches of the Bank Secrecy Act
Key points
A financial penalty of 125 million dollars for repeated and deliberate breaches of the main US law on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). This was imposed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury, on UBS Financial Services on 3 August 2026. This is the largest fine ever imposed on a broker-dealer for breaches of the BSA.
The previous one
This is the second sanction imposed on UBS by the Network and follows a fine of $14.5 million in December 2018. At the time, the alleged breaches included inadequate monitoring of foreign currency transfers: a critical issue that was never rectified, as a result of which more than $10 billion was transferred without the correct checks in 50,000 transactions. Furthermore, UBS had failed to properly fulfil its due diligence obligations, particularly in relation to services provided to high-risk clients with links to Russia and Latin America. According to the investigations, the bank had in fact failed to properly assess and mitigate the risks of money laundering and illicit finance associated with the origin of these clients’ assets. Nor were press reports regarding these individuals’ possible links to schemes involving money laundering, fraud or corruption taken into account. As a result of these shortcomings, FinCEN continues, UBS failed to report hundreds of suspicious transactions in a timely manner.
The measure
The order of 3 August therefore requires UBS to cooperate with third parties to carry out a retrospective analysis to identify and report to FinCEN any suspicious transactions that had not previously been detected. The bank will also have to undergo an independent review of its anti-money laundering programme, focusing in particular on priority risks relating to illicit finance, including Russia, Venezuela and Iran. Upon completion of the review of the AML programme and the implementation of the recommendations, the Financial Crime Network will waive up to $15 million in costs incurred by UBS in connection with those activities.
