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The Federal Reserve Board on Monday announced the issuance of an Order of Assessment of a Civil Money Penalty (158 KB PDF) in the amount of $100 million against UBS, AG, Zurich, Switzerland, a foreign bank. UBS, without admitting to any allegations, consented to the issuance of the Order in connection with U.S. dollar banknote transactions with counterparties in jurisdictions subject to sanctions under U.S. law, specifically Cuba, Libya, Iran, and Yugoslavia. The transactions were conducted through UBS's Extended Custodial Inventory (ECI) facility in Zurich, Switzerland, which was operated pursuant to a contract with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Reserve Bank determined that certain former officers and employees of UBS engaged in intentional acts aimed at concealing the transactions and terminated the contract in October 2003. ECIs are overseas cash depots, operated by banks on behalf of the Federal Reserve, to facilitate distribution and repatriation of U.S. currency. The Board acknowledged the cooperation of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and its Office of Foreign Assets Control in the preparation of this Order. The Order is being issued in coordination with separate action (71 KB PDF) being taken by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission. |