Havana.  August 27, 2009

Blockade is just the same:
million-dollar fine for ANZ bank

A fine of $5.75 million has been paid by the Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ), a powerful financial group, for engaging in transactions that allegedly benefited Cuba and Sudan via U.S. bank accounts, according to a report by the Treasury Department published today in El Nuevo Herald.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) noted that the violations occurred in international commerce operations and foreign currency exchanges between 2004 and 2006, and involved ANZ in the process of transactions by using accounts corresponding to banking affiliates in the United States. The Miami daily adds that the sanction represents the largest fine imposed in relation to the blockade since June 2004, when the Union Bank of Switzerland received a fine of $100 million for allegedly allowing the Cuban government to use an international program created by the U.S. Federal Reserve to exchange old dollar bills for new ones. (Cubadebate)

Translated by Granma International
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/agosto/juev27/bloqueo.html

OFAC: Exhibit A

Australia and New Zealand Bank Group, Ltd., Settles Allegations of Violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations and Cuban Assets Control Regulations: Australia and New Zealand Bank Group, Ltd., Melbourne, Australia ("ANZ"), remitted $5,750,000 to settle allegations of violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 538, and the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515. The international trade finance and foreign currency exchange activities at issue in the settlement occurred from 2004 to 2006 and involved ANZ’s processing of transactions through U.S. correspondent accounts. ANZ actively manipulated the SWIFT messages related to the Sudanese transactions by removing references to Sudan or the names of entities subject to sanctions in the United States, thereby concealing the identities of the targets of U.S. sanctions and impeding the ability of U.S. banks to detect these violations. The settlement covers 16 transactions in the aggregate amount of approximately $28 million alleged to have violated the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations, and 15 transactions in the aggregate amount of $78 million alleged to have violated the Cuban Assets Control Regulations.

OFAC mitigated the total potential penalty based on ANZ’s substantial cooperation, its prompt and thorough remedial response, and the fact that ANZ had not been subject to an OFAC enforcement action in the five years preceding the transactions at issue. Although ANZ did not voluntarily self-disclose the apparent violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations, ANZ substantially cooperated with OFAC by conducting an extensive review of transactions. This review identified additional apparent violations of the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations of which OFAC was not aware, as well as apparent violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, which ANZ voluntarily self-disclosed to OFAC.

As part of its remedial response, ANZ re-engineered its current operating model to enhance its ability to identify and resolve operational gaps and weaknesses. ANZ enhanced key OFAC procedures and policies to establish more effective controls with respect to potential OFAC violations. As part of its settlement with OFAC, ANZ has agreed to examine and, as necessary, further revise its policies and procedures to ensure, to the best of its ability, that transactions that would be in violation of OFAC’s regulations are not processed by or through United States financial institutions. ANZ will report findings of its examination to OFAC. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, ANZ’s primary Australian regulator, has agreed to review the results of the examination conducted by ANZ and monitor the resolution of any adverse findings.

http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/civpen/penalties/08242009.pdf

El bloqueo está igualito: multa millonaria al banco ANZ

Una multa de 5 750 000 dólares pagó el Australia & New Zealand Bank Group (ANZ), poderoso grupo financiero, por realizar transacciones que supuestamente beneficiaron a Cuba y Sudán a través de cuentas de bancos estadounidenses, dice un informe del Departamento del Tesoro que reporta hoy el diario El Nuevo Herald. La Oficina de Control de Bienes Extranjeros (OFAC) registró que las violaciones ocurrieron "en operaciones de comercio internacional y cambios de moneda extranjera realizadas entre el 2004 y el 2006, e involucraron a ANZ en el procesamiento de las transacciones utilizando cuentas correspondientes de filiales bancarias de Estados Unidos". El diario de Miami añade que la sanción representa el mayor monto gravado en relación con el bloqueo a Cuba desde junio del 2004, cuando la Unión de Bancos Suizos recibió una multa de 100 millones de dólares por permitir, supuestamente, que el Gobierno cubano usara un programa internacional de la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos para la sustitución de billetes de dólares en mal estado. (CubaDebate)

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2009/08/27/cubamundo/artic03.html