European Central Bank has revoked the licence of Austrian lender Anglo Austrian AAB Bank over compliance lapses and money laundering allegations.
The decision, which became effective immediately, was announced by Austria’s financial regulator, Financial Market Authority (FMA).
In a statement published on the website, Anglo Austrian AAB Bank said that it regrets the decision.
However, the bank noted that it had already initiated procedures to withdraw from the banking business a month ago.
“In this respect, the ECB’s recent decision does not change anything; the Bank will continue or accelerate its withdrawal from banking business as planned,” the statement added.
The bank is entitled to appeal against the ECB decision.
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By GlobalDataAnglo Austrian AAB Bank added: “As part of the orderly implementation of the task of banking, we announce that we no longer carry out any banking business.
“We therefore ask you to provide us with a new bank account information in order to transfer / transfer your account balances and securities.”
In June this year, the Austrian lender was rebranded as Anglo Austrian AAB Bank from its earlier name of Meinl Bank.
Owned by British businessman Julius Meinl V, Meinl Bank offered corporate finance, private and institutional asset management services.
Since 2016, the bank is being investigated for potential money laundering allegations, which the bank denied in earlier statements.
It was also involved in Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht’s corruption scandal, reported The Financial Times.
Earlier this year, the local regulators fined the Meinl Bank €500,000 for failures related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.