French bank fined 50m euros over terror suspect payments
Bank failed to put in place measures to check whether people were subject to asset freezes
Paris: France's banking regulator said Monday that it had fined the banking service of the national postal operator 50 million euros (Dh209 million) after finding it had allowed cash transfers to and from people suspected of "terrorist activities".
The ACPR watchdog said it had discovered 75 transfers carried out by the Banque Postale from 2009 to 2017 involving 10 people whose assets had been frozen, nine of them in the wake of anti-terror investigations.
It did not identify the individuals or provide details of their suspected activities.
The Banque Postale agencies, often housed in post offices across the country, allow people to make fast cash transfers even if they don't have an account at the bank.
The ACPR said the bank had failed to put in place measures to check whether people were subject to asset freezes before allowing them to use the service.
The Banque Postale said it would appeal the ruling, adding that subsequent verifications had determined that "none of the operations themselves constituted money laundering or terrorism financing".