City National Bank Fined $65 Million

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has imposed a $65 million civil money penalty on Royal Bank of Canada’s American unit, City National Bank.

The Los Angeles-based bank received the fine for engaging in unsafe or unsound practices and failing to establish effective risk management and internal controls.

According to the OCC, the bank violated the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to implement reporting processes that help US government agencies detect and prevent money laundering.

The law requires banks to provide documentation for any transactions that add up to $10,000 or more, to enable authorities to track suspicious banking activity and financial crime.

The agency also issued a cease-and-desist order that requires the bank to take “broad and comprehensive” corrective actions to improve its strategic plan.

The bank must also improve its operational risk and compliance risk management, which includes anti-money laundering and fair lending strategies as well as internal controls.

Additionally, the agency previously entered into an agreement with the bank requiring it to take actions to comply with the requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and its implementing regulation.

Diana Rodriguez, City National's chief communications officer, said: “Our focus will continue to be on both strengthening our infrastructure and systems to reflect a bank of our size and business model, while at the same time providing our clients with consistently outstanding banking products and services.”