The brokerage arm of Swiss bank UBS has been fined a record $125 million in the United States for anti-money-laundering failures, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a division of the US Treasury Department.
FinCEN said it is the largest penalty ever imposed on a brokerage firm in the United States for such violations.
Photo: EPA / JUSTIN LANE
Second penalty for UBS unit
This is the second time UBS Financial Services Inc. (UBSFS) has faced US sanctions. In December 2018 the company agreed to pay a $14.5 million fine for similar failures in monitoring currency transfers and promised to fix the problems, but according to FinCEN it did not.
As a result, for more than four years, from 2019 to 2023, more than 50,000 wire transfers worth a combined $10 billion went without proper monitoring, FinCEN said. UBSFS did not report these issues to the regulator, which discovered them itself during an examination.
High-risk clients from Russia and Latin America
The second part of the case concerns high-risk clients, mainly from Russia and Latin America. FinCEN said UBSFS did not adequately verify the source of their funds and ignored negative news about possible client links to corruption, fraud or money laundering. The firm opened and serviced accounts for Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin while ignoring sanctions risks and corruption allegations, according to FinCEN.
UBSFS admitted that it knowingly violated the law, FinCEN said.
Terms of the settlement
Under the settlement, the company must work with an independent auditor to review the missed suspicious transactions and overhaul its control systems, with particular focus on risks tied to the US southern border and drug cartels, as well as to Iran, Russia and Venezuela.
Separately, the European Union added Russia to its money-laundering blacklist earlier in 2026. In December 2025, the United States lifted oversight of Danske Bank after a three-year probation period imposed following a scandal over Russian money laundering.
