UBS to pay record $125 million fine for AML violations

UBS Financial Services Inc., the U.S. broker-dealer subsidiary of Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG, has agreed to pay a record $125 million fine to settle allegations it willfully and repeatedly violated U.S. anti-money laundering laws. The penalty, announced by the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Monday, August 3, 2026, is the largest ever imposed on a broker-dealer for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.

The settlement resolves a coordinated action by four U.S. regulators, who found that UBS failed to implement promised reforms from a prior 2018 enforcement order. According to the authorities, from January 2019 through June 2023, the firm failed to properly monitor more than 60,000 foreign-currency wire transfers totaling over $10 billion. Regulators stated that UBS did not establish an effective automated monitoring system until March 2021, nearly two years later than promised, and that the new system was still deficient, omitting thousands of transactions from review.

FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki said the action sends a clear message that recidivist financial institutions will face severe repercussions. UBS admitted to willfully violating the...