Costa Rica News – When it comes to money laundering Costa Rica has made quite a few headlines recently.
The Federal Reserve Bank of the US has its eye on the International Bank of Costa Rica (Bicsa). It has warned that the bank has a high vulnerability to be used for money laundering activities.
After an investigation of the bank’s activities on American soil, in November an alert was issued. The branch located in Miami, Florida has a lack of controls in place to combat illicit money income.
The bank received one of the worst scores, a 3, on the SOSA rating. It has financial weaknesses and oversight issues. Greater controls and transparency are needed.
A note of warning was also issued to the bank’s owners, Banco Nacional de Costa Rica and Banco de Costa Rica.
The management has not addressed the issues in a timely manner. Six demands have now been issued to fix specific parts of the problems, such as IT infrastructure and a new audit.
