Investment Bank to Pay Record Fine Of $8 Million for AML Compliance Violations

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Feb. 5 that New York-based Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. agreed to a record $8 million fine to resolve allegations it had “substantial anti-money laundering compliance failures.”

FINRA said in a release that BBH did not have an adequate AML program in place to monitor and detect suspicious penny stock transactions. BBH also allegedly failed to investigate “potentially suspicious penny stock activity” that was brought to its attention and did not file required Suspicious Activity Reports.

“In addition, BBH did not have an adequate supervisory system to prevent the distribution of unregistered securities,” FINRA ...