UBS Financial Services has been fined $125 million by U.S. regulators after admitting to willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, marking the largest civil penalty imposed on a broker-dealer under the country’s primary anti-money laundering law.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said UBS failed to establish and maintain an effective AML program and did not properly file suspicious activity reports. The violations took place between January 2019 and June 2023, following an earlier $14.5 million FinCEN penalty in 2018 over similar compliance weaknesses.
The latest settlement also resolves related actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Regulators highlighted deficiencies in UBS’s due diligence and transaction monitoring controls, particularly for higher-risk customers connected to Russia and Latin America. Authorities said one Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin was able to maintain accounts despite adverse media reports concerning his wealth and potential money laundering links.
UBS was also accused of failing to appropriately monitor more than 60,000 foreign-currency wire transfers worth over $10 billion.
Under the settlement, UBS Financial Services must appoint an independent consultant to review its AML framework and strengthen controls around priority illicit finance risks. FinCEN identified concerns involving the U.S. Southwest border, drug cartels, narcotics trafficking, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.
UBS said it cooperated with regulators and has invested significantly in improving its anti-money laundering program. The enforcement action signals increasing regulatory pressure on financial institutions to strengthen customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting, and ongoing risk controls. For compliance teams, the case reinforces that repeat AML deficiencies can trigger heavier penalties, independent oversight, and closer scrutiny across customer and transaction risks.
Previous Global AML Enforcement Cases Against Major Banks
Similar enforcement actions have occurred globally. In 2020, Australia’s Federal Court ordered Westpac to pay A$1.3 billion for AML/CTF breaches. In Canada, FINTRAC fined Royal Bank of Canada C$7.475 million in 2023 for compliance failures, including deficiencies in suspicious transaction reporting and keeping AML policies and procedures up to date.
