Banks are laundering more money than Bitcoins and other cryptos

A new report from Mexico said that financial institutions and banks are laundering huge amounts of money compared to newer financial systems.

Banks are laundering dirty money the most

In its national risk assessment, the Mexican Financial Intelligence Unit concluded that money laundering activities from banks and other financial institutions significantly outweighed similar FinTech and businesses such as neo banks.

The report pointed out that the Mexican group “G7 banking” consisting of Santander, BBVA, Citibanamex, Banorte, HSBC, Scotiabank and Inbursa registered significantly more money used for illegal purposes than other financial companies.

“According to the methodology used, the seven largest banks in Mexico are most often used for money laundering,” said Santiago Nieto Castillo, head of financial crime in Mexico.

Meanwhile, the report added that traditional enterprises, such as financial brokerage firms, stock exchanges and institutional banking providers, were also included in the “high risk” category. However, pointed out that the digital finance and fintech industry is not completely clean either. The industry has been named a potential promoter of financial crime, terrorist financing and money laundering.

At a conference in August this year, it was stated that cryptocurrencies pose a risk to conducting and inciting criminal activity, with Mexican regulators seeing the technology as an “emerging risk.”

HSBC and drug cartels

Beginning in 2012, Britain’s HSBC, a leading international bank, was in search of regulators after authorities discovered a link to money laundering of drug empires from Mexico and Colombia. The bank even paid a $ 1.9 billion fine and in 2012 was given a five-year condition for failing to prevent Mexican drug cartels from laundering hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to documents submitted to the case and Reuters, lax in money laundering controls at HSBC allowed two cartels – in Mexico and Colombia – to move with $ 881 million in proceeds from the sale of drugs through a bank during the second half of the last decade.

No such case of such frequent money laundering has been identified in the crypto industry, especially not with the participation of a centralized player such as wallet or crypto exchange.

In fact, companies like Chainalysis are now actively working with regulators to identify bitcoin transactions and catch any suspicious activity. Which may not appeal to real cyberpunkers, but it still legitimizes the crypto sector.

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