The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has ordered Pennsylvania-based Customers Bancorp to address “significant” anti-money laundering deficiencies stemming from the company’s relationships with virtual asset service platforms and entrance into the rapid payments market.
Customers Bancorp, a bank holding company that controls Customers Bank, a state-chartered lender in Malvern, Pennsylvania, “has pursued a business strategy that involves offering banking services to digital asset customers,” the agency stated in a 13-paged written agreement signed Monday and published Thursday.
The company, which employs a staff of 600, operates 13 branches in six states and maintains loan offices in six others, also runs an instant payments platform through which commercial clients “make tokenized payments over a distributed ledger technology system,” the agreement states.
Customers Bancorp must submit a written plan to the Federal Reserve within 60 days that ensures timely identification, reporting and mitigation of risks presented by the company’s “digital asset strategy,” and outlines “steps to ensure the bank has adequate controls in place to conduct its dollar token activities in a safe and sound manner.”
Topics : | Anti-money laundering , Fintech |
Source: | U.S.: Federal Reserve Board |
Document Date: | August 8, 2024 |