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Tanzanian central bank revokes banking license of FBME over laundering

Xinhua, May 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) announced on Monday that it has officially revoked a banking licence for the troubled FBME, an international commercial bank, and placed the bank under liquidation.

In a statement, BoT appointed the Deposit Insurance Board as the liquidator.

The BoT appealed to FBME bank's depositors, creditors and debtors to be patient as the liquidator was putting in place arrangements to handle their affairs.

"The liquidator shall, in due course, inform depositors, creditors and debtors on pay out plan, debt collection and other similar arrangements in line with the provisions of the law," said the statement.

In 2014, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) named FBME "a foreign financial institution of primary money laundering concern," sparking a protracted legal battle between the two parties.

On March 25, 2016, the FinCEN issued its final ruling, confirming the Dar es Salaam-headquartered FBME, which also maintains a representative office in Moscow and is reportedly owned by two Lebanese brothers, as an institution of "primary money laundering concern."

On April 14, 2017, a U.S. district court judge in Washington, DC ruled in favor of FinCEN.

The ruling put FBME out of business after the court got convinced that FBME has been laundering money through its Cyprus branch. Endit