U.S. Fines Riggs Bank $25 Million

Federal regulators fined Riggs Bank $25 million Thursday for allegedly violating anti-money laundering laws in its handling of tens of millions in cash transactions in Saudi-controlled accounts under investigation for possible links to terrorism financing.

The civil fine against Washington-based Riggs is the largest ever imposed on a financial institution for such violations, experts said. It had been expected.

The action by the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency followed weeks of negotiations between executives of Riggs and banking regulators.

The order said the bank’s internal controls “were, and continue to be, seriously deficient.”

“Riggs failed to properly monitor, and report as suspicious, transactions involving tens of millions of dollars in cash withdrawals, international drafts that were returned to the bank, and numerous sequentially numbered cashier’s checks,” it said.

The order requires Riggs to make special reviews of its operations and account transactions and give regulators advance notice of any dividend payments to shareholders.

Riggs did not admit or deny wrongdoing in agreeing to the fine.