Reuters reported that U.S. prosecutors were investigating the systems Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. uses to monitor money laundering.
The report said federal prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed Japan’s biggest bank late in 2017, while MUFG was already in a court dispute with the New York Department of Financial Services.
That state case was part of New York’s effort to punish the bank for alleged anti-money-laundering violations. In a court filing, New York said MUFG had deliberately bypassed an internal filter meant to keep the bank from doing business with companies and individuals on international sanctions lists.
The archive item also noted that MUFG had been fined hundreds of millions of dollars in 2014 after U.S. regulators said it had misled them about transactions involving sanctioned countries, including Iran.
The accompanying file photo was dated May 16, 2016, showing people walking past a Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group branch in Tokyo.
MUFG and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reporting by Bhanu Pratap in Bengaluru.
