MUFG Bank to end over-the-counter int'l cash transfers to combat crime

MUFG Bank will end its over-the-counter international cash transfer services at the end of May to strengthen anti-money laundering measures, sources close to the matter said.

MUFG Bank, a core banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, is beefing up such steps in response to growing international calls for preventing illicit trading including terrorist financing, the sources said. Mizuho Bank, a unit of another major Japanese financial institution, Mizuho Financial Group Inc., plans to take a similar measure, a person familiar with the matter said. MUFG Bank will also ask more detailed questions when a customer opens a new account, such as the purpose of doing so, the sources said. MUFG's customers can continue to send money overseas online and from their accounts opened under the stricter identity verification process.

Japan's Financial Services Agency has been stepping up supervision of banks' anti-money laundering efforts as the country faces an assessment this fall by the Financial Action Task Force, an international standard-setting body that promotes steps to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF singled out Japan as having inadequate domestic legislation and urged the country to block the domestic transfer of money linked to terrorism in a statement in 2014. If Japan is regarded as reluctant to cooperate to prevent money laundering, its banking sector may face difficulties making transactions with overseas financial institutions. Regional banks, which are seen as having less experience and expertise in overseas remittance, are also taking measures to counter money laundering, such as setting up an information sharing system.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/crime/mufg-bank-to-end-over-the-counter-int'l-cash-transfer-to-combat-crime