Banca d'Italia orders client stop at ING in fight against money laundering

Reuters
A bird flies near ING Bank Slaski logo seen on their building in Warsaw, Poland July 1, 2016. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Italian central bank on Saturday said Dutch lender ING is not allowed to take on new customers in Italy as long as it has not improved its monitoring of client behavior.

The measure follows inspections by Banca d'Italia from October last year until the beginning of 2019, which showed ING Italy did not do enough to prevent money laundering transactions through its accounts.

ING paid a record 775 million euro ($900 million) fine in a settlement with Dutch prosecutors in September last year for failing to spot criminal use of its Dutch accounts for years.

The bank said the shortcomings found by the Italian supervisors were the result of steps announced after the Dutch settlement, meant to enhance management of compliance risks.

"In the coming days ING will work hard to address the shortcomings and resolve the issues identified," the lender said.

ING said it would refrain from taking on new customers in Italy during further discussions with Banca d'Italia, but would continue to serve existing clients in the country.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Marguerita Choy)