Switzerland’s financial regulator warned the nation is particularly exposed to money-laundering risks, given its traditional role as a magnet for the world’s wealthy as well as emerging threats from blockchain and banks’ lower profit margins.
Blockchain technology may tempt banks with efficiency gains but its anonymity and transaction speed appeal to money launderers and those looking to finance terrorism, the regulator warned in its 2019 Risk Monitor report.
Squeezed margins may also be pushing some banks to accept new clients from emerging countries that present strong risks. Finma has investigated a number of Swiss banks that have pursued clients caught up in scandals such as the 1MDB affair or Petrobras case in Brazil without doing the necessary due diligence work.
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