French authorities have launched an investigation into BNP Paribas over aggravated money laundering allegations related to suspicious money transfers, reported French daily Le Monde.
Between 2019 and 2022, Cypriot brokerage firm TCR International, which worked together with BNP Paribas’ custodian unit, made suspicious transactions.
The investigation primarily focuses on the transfer of several hundreds of millions of euros and dollars by TCR International between 2019 and 2021.
In May, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into suspicious transfers by TCR International, after being alerted by the finance ministry’s anti-money laundering unit, TRACFIN.
The prosecutor’s office said that the transfers were of possibly dubious origin or transactions with no explicit economic logic.
BNP Paribas said that it has a functional global compliance system in place and is committed to meeting its regulatory obligations.
Aggravated money laundering is an offence in France and is punishable by 10 years imprisonment and a fine of €750,000 or half the value of the assets laundered.
In a separate development, BNP Paribas and HSBC Holdings were fined KRW26.5bn ($20.4m) by South Korea’s regulatory authorities, for naked short selling.
South Korea ordered the French lender to pay KRW11bn ($8.5m) and its local brokerage unit to pay KRW8bn ($6.18m) for naked short-selling, which is illegal in the country.
The regulatory authorities also fined HSBC with KRW7.5bn for naked short-selling.
In addition, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) intends to ask prosecutors to investigate the two international investment banks.
South Korea’s Securities and Futures Commission said: “The violations were a grave matter that hurts the market order and investor trust. The naked short-selling transactions by the three parties, which lasted for months, were viewed to be intentional.”
