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HONG KONG, June 4 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's banking regulatorhas said that banks in the city need to step-up anti-moneylaundering efforts, and has warned it would not hesitate tosanction lapses in detecting dirty money in the wake of the FIFAbribery scandal.
Stewart Mcglynn, head of banking supervision, anti-moneylaundering and financial crime risk division at the Hong KongMonetary Authority, said in a statement on Thursday that it had"found that meeting anti-money laundering...expectations,particularly around higher risk customers remains a challengefor some banks. There should be no doubt on the part of theindustry or the public that where they do not, we will takeaction."
More than a dozen banks were named in a U.S. Department ofJustice indictment of nine FIFA officials and five sports mediaand promotion executives involving more than $150 million inbribes.
The indictment specifically mentioned $1.2 million beingwired to an unnamed bank account at HSBC in Hong Kong.Later, $1 million was transferred from the HSBC account throughStandard Chartered Bank in New York to a bank in theCayman Islands. (Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
