Per Bloomberg

Credit Suisse has decided to lighten its push regarding anti-money-laundering controls in Asia after receiving complaints from clients and bankers. This included executives needing to approve verifications on their clients' source of wealth.

The ease in requirements happened late in 2022 as the company has also decided to dial back on the need for executives to approve third-party transactions. This decision comes as the firm is trying to balance the compliance/security side with the client side, per SCMP.

The new steps would be a shift in the company's 2021 decision to tighten controls over transactions. Credit Suisse decided to do so by commissioning Ernst & Young to be in charge of the anti-money-laundering procedures of its wealth unit.

Ernst & Young was placed in charge of Singapore and Hong Kong. This came after a 2017 incident regarding the 1MDB fund bribery scandal in Malaysia resulted in the Monetary Authority of Singapore fining Credit Suisse $700,000 for breaching the "Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism" MAS Notice 626 provision.

A Credit Suisse spokesperson gave a statement to Bloomberg News regarding how they will improve their operating model and the firm's planned approach moving forward.

CS Spokesperson: “Based on the findings, which were in line with our own initial assessment, the firm established a robust ‘belt and braces’ approach (to money laundering and)... improve our end-to-end operating model,"

In October 2022, the company announced that it would let go of 9,000 employees following the massive layoffs especially felt in the Big Tech sector. The company wants to have a headcount of only 43,000 by 2025, which would drop costs by 15%.

Previously, a trader was found guilty of illegal trading activity. Christopher Jordan, the person convicted, worked at Credit Suisse from Mar to Aug 2010 and at JPMorgan from Mar 2006 to Dec 2009.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

Other News:

Resources:

Bloomberg

SCMP