Gross violations

FMA imposes hefty fine on Ländle-Hypo

Hypo Vorarlberg is once again making negative headlines.

(Bild: Mathis Fotografie)

The Financial Market Authority (FMA) has fined Hypo Vorarlberg EUR 791,000 for violations of money laundering regulations. The Landesbank is not aware of any guilt and intends to take legal action against the fine.

The Landesbank is alleged to have breached its duty of care to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, specifically in connection with failures relating to a correspondent bank, according to the FMA.

The relationship with this institution had included both the execution of fiduciary investments and the execution of payments. Hypo had not obtained sufficient information and evidence about the origin of the funds invested in the accounts. Furthermore, the payment transaction accounts were not subject to any risk-based monitoring.

Hypo intends to appeal
Hypo Vorarlberg, however, has no sympathy for the punishment. It is of the opinion that the bank has sufficiently complied with all legally required measures and will therefore lodge an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court in order to obtain a reversal of the penalty, according to a statement from the Managing Board.

It was also emphasized that the FMA's accusation related solely to the appropriateness of the audit procedures; no criminal offences relating to money laundering and terrorist financing had been identified. Furthermore, the bank attaches great importance to the statement that the relationship with the correspondent bank (with regard to payment transactions) was already completely terminated at the end of 2019 - and thus before the audit was carried out.

Landesbank repeatedly made negative headlines
This is not the first time that Hypo Vorarlberg has made negative headlines. In the past, the Landesbank has not exactly proved to be a model pupil when it comes to money laundering, and most recently the bank's dealings with René Benko's insolvent Signa Group were also criticized. 

The initial political reactions to the new "fall from grace" were therefore not particularly squeamish. "What is going wrong at this bank?" asked NEOS regional spokesperson Claudia Gamon. She renewed the pink demand that the future of the bank should finally be discussed: "We NEOS have already put forward proposals on how the political owner can be kept out of the bank - with the clear aim of depoliticizing the bank."