The financial supervisory authority Bafin is taking action against two offshoots of foreign credit institutions. On the one hand, the bank guards are examining a subsidiary of the Russian VTB Bank for deficiencies in the prevention of money laundering, as the Bonn authority announced on Friday. At the Frankfurt-based VTB Bank (Europe) SE, the financial watchdogs appointed a special representative for the prevention of terrorist financing and money laundering with immediate effect. In another context, the inspectors also took a look at the Hamburg branch of Bank Melli Iran on Thursday. The special representative is now to check at VTB Bank (Europe) whether the institute is taking appropriate internal security measures. He should keep the Bafin informed about progress in the implementation.
In response to the move, the Russian parent company stated that German financial regulators had found no violation of any rules in the business of VTB Bank Europe. VTB Bank is Russia’s second largest financial institution and is majority-owned by the state. VTB Bank (Europe) SE, which belongs to the financial group, is active in trade and export finance, among other things, and sees itself as a leading European specialist bank for European-Russian trade relations. The institute also includes VTB Direktbank, which has been active in the private customer business in Germany since 2011 and, according to its own information, currently has around 160,000 customers.
The financial watchdogs also imposed a loan ban on the Hamburg branch of Bank Melli Iran. The supervisor explained that the money house violated the rules for proper business organization by violating the four-eyes principle. No comment was initially available from the management of the branch. Bank Melli Iran is the largest Iranian bank. The Hamburg branch, which has existed since 1965, is active in foreign trade with Iran, among other things. This includes trade finance for corporate customers.