April 22 - German financial watchdog BaFin has ordered Commerzbank (CBKG.DE), opens new tab to pay a fine of 1.45 million euros ($1.55 million) for breaching its anti-money laundering duties, the regulator said on Monday. "Commerzbank AG and the former comdirect Bank AG, of which Commerzbank AG is the universal successor, had breached their supervisory duties," said the regulator in a statement.

April 21 - Each year, money launders funnel $2 trillion in ill-gotten gains into the financial system. And a lot of that money travels by air, in cash, often in people’s suitcases, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday (April 21).

April 19 - The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has fined Austen-Jones Solicitors, a South East London law firm, £ 15,200 for failing to adequately train staff in anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and maintain necessary AML documentation, The Law Society Gazette reported. The sanction comes after the SRA discovered that the firm had not provided its employees with the requisite training on AML protocols or kept up-to-date AML documentation essential for its conveyancing operations. The regulatory scrutiny intensified when, during a routine engagement in 2020, the SRA required Austen-Jones Solicitors to submit a declaration confirming the presence of a risk assessment for their practices. The firm admitted its oversight in failing to conduct the assessment.

April 19 - TD Bank chief executive Bharat Masrani says he hopes to be able to say more soon on the investigation into the bank’s anti-money laundering measures. Masrani made the remarks as he faced shareholders Thursday at the bank’s annual general meeting, the first since its US$13.4-billion takeover of First Horizon bank fell apart and the bank disclosed that it expects to face penalties from an investigation from U.S. regulators related to its anti-money-laundering program.