Richmond, B.C., currency exchange fined $315K by federal anti-money-laundering agency

A Richmond storefront operated by Canada Changjiang Management Ltd. is shown in this photo from the company's website (cjexca.com)

A currency exchange in Richmond, B.C., has been fined more than $315,000 for six violations of Canada's anti-money-laundering and terrorism financing rules, the federal regulator that enforces those rules announced Thursday.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, better known as FINTRAC, published details on its website of the administrative monetary penalties it imposed on Canada Changjiang Management Ltd. 

The penalties stemmed from a compliance examination FINTRAC conducted in 2022. The violations the examination found occurred between December 2020 and May 2021, according to FINTRAC.

The regulator said the fines – totalling $315,282 – were imposed in February of this year, and Changjiang has paid them in full. Proceedings related to the company's non-compliance are now complete.

According to FINTRAC, the six violations Changjiang committed were:

• Failure to submit suspicious transaction reports where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that transactions were related to a money laundering or terrorist activity financing offence;
• Failure to submit large cash transactions reports of $10,000 or more in the course of a single transaction, together with prescribed information;
• Failure to submit outgoing electronic funds transfer reports of $10,000 or more in the course of a single transaction, together with prescribed information;
• Failure to submit incoming electronic funds transfer reports of $10,000 or more in the course of a single transaction, together with prescribed information;
• Failure to develop and apply written compliance policies and procedures that are kept up to date;
• And failure to assess and document the risk of a money laundering or terrorist financing offence.

The regulator noted that the company failed to submit two suspicious transaction reports in cases where there were reasonable grounds to suspect the transactions were related to money laundering or terrorism financing.

Specifically, those transactions involved instances in which clients conducted transactions at different physical locations, appeared to be structuring amounts to avoid client identification or reporting thresholds, and conducted transactions with jurisdictions known to be at a higher risk for money laundering or terrorism financing.

FINTRAC also found that, although Changjiang had policies in place requiring reporting of suspicious transactions, those policies either did not comply with the regulations or were not followed.

"Canada's anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorist-financing regime is in place to protect the safety of Canadians and the security of Canada’s economy," said Sarah Paquet, FINTRAC's director and CEO, in a news release announcing the penalties against Changjiang.

"FINTRAC will continue to work with businesses to help them understand and comply with their obligations under the Act. We will also be firm in ensuring that businesses continue to do their part and we will take appropriate actions when they are needed.”

Changjiang's website describes the company multiple times as being "registered with FINTRAC," and describes identification requirements and other security procedures it requires for large transactions. 

The regulator's news release describes its administrative monetary penalties as intended to be "non-punitive" and "issued to encourage change in the non-compliant behaviour of businesses."