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53-763: It is listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and it has been designated as a domestic systemically important bank (D-SIB) by the State Bank of Pakistan . Agha Hasan Abedi founded the bank in November 1958, and it became the second-largest bank in Pakistan. In 1974, the Government of Pakistan nationalized the bank. In 2002, the Government of Pakistan sold 51% of its shares of the bank to

106-476: A SAR is a US federal criminal offense, as it could undermine or hamper ongoing investigations, and threaten the safety of financial institutions and those who file the SARs. FinCEN collected more than 2   million SARs in 2020, while its staff has decreased by 10% from 2009 to 2019. BuzzFeed News sources also claim that most SARs are not read or acted upon. The BuzzFeed News report claims that besides filing

159-460: A SAR when they suspect suspicious activity, banks are also required to take action themselves to deal with corruption or money laundering. BuzzFeed News obtained the 2,657 leaked documents, including 2,121 SARs, in 2019 and shared them with the ICIJ. 400 journalists from 88 countries investigated the documents which were brought to the public's attention on 20 September 2020. BuzzFeed News and

212-569: A consortium of Abu Dhabi Group and Bestway . Also, the bank merged its operations in the United Kingdom with those belonging to National Bank of Pakistan to form United National Bank Limited. United Bank owns 55% of the joint-venture and National Bank of Pakistan owns the remainder. In 2005, UBL was listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange , following an initial public offering at a strike price of PKR 50. In June 2007

265-579: A consulting firm based in Singapore , received a total of $ 2   million from the bid committee paid into a bank account in the city-state in July and October 2013 and later transferred to Diack's Citibank account. Diack was jailed for corruption and breach of trust by a Paris district court earlier in 2020. It was reported that the Turkish bank Aktif Bank was a financial facilitator for Wirecard and

318-507: A customer base exceeding 6.8 million, with over 1.5 million active cards in issue and 5 million monthly transactions valued at over US$ 253 million. Through the success of UBL Omni 1.55 million previously unbanked individuals have opened mobile bank accounts with UBL in Pakistan. Today, Omni Dukaan network has grown to 42,100 agents in Pakistan. In January 2011, Bestway Group increased its shareholding in UBL to 51.07% by acquiring an additional 20% of

371-495: A method known as open outcry . The advent of foreign investors in the early 1990s catalyzed a push for modernization, supported by a $ 125 million loan from the Asian Development Bank for capital market reforms. This led to the replacement of the traditional open outcry system with the automated Karachi Automated Trading System (KATS). Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan was founded in 1999 with

424-636: A strong case for attracting strategic partnerships necessary for providing technological expertise and assistance. The integration of the three exchanges has completed the second phase of the Stock Exchanges Demutualization and Integration Act 2012, passed by a joint session of the Parliament . The Shanghai Stock Exchange became a major shareholder with a 40% stake in the PSX. PSX is integrated with China's stock market through

477-496: A trading card. The value of these cards had experienced volatility, rising from slightly more than one million rupees before 1990 to approximately 40 million rupees in the mid-1990s, before settling at around 27.5 million rupees in 2002. From its founding up until May 27, 1998, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) trading hall was characterized by the vocal trading cries of "La-oo" from buyers and "Lay" from sellers,

530-713: Is a stock exchange based in Karachi , Pakistan . PSX was classified by MSCI as a frontier market on 8 September 2021. Pakistan Stock Exchange was founded in 1947 as Karachi Stock Exchange, In January 2016, Karachi Stock Exchange was renamed as Pakistan Stock Exchange after the merger of the Lahore Stock Exchange and Islamabad Stock Exchange . Investors on the exchanges include 1,886 foreign institutional investors and 883 domestic institutional investors along with about 220,000 retail investors. There are also about 400 brokerage houses which are members of

583-420: Is to build effective screening and monitoring systems and we work closely with regulators and law enforcement to bring perpetrators to justice." Valdis Dombrovskis stated to the ICIJ that "[d]uring my time as prime minister of Latvia between 2008 and 2014, in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, my governments oversaw important reforms ... to tackle money laundering and close loopholes...Progress made

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636-553: The Bank of New York Mellon . Jho allegedly played a role in being the main person in the laundering of proceeds from the government unit 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Also reported by the Malay Mail , that several leading Malaysian banks and international banks with their Malaysian subsidiaries had been flagged by FinCEN in 23 suspicious transactions with over US$ 4.88   million entering and   US$ 13.38 million leaving

689-491: The Government of Pakistan decided to merge the three large exchange markets of the country (based in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad) into one combined market. The PSX was launched on 11 January 2016. Prior to the formal launch, the Karachi Stock Exchange held a two-day pre-production mock trading session for all certificate holders of the three exchanges. The integration is expected to help reduce market fragmentation and create

742-698: The National Bank of Pakistan , United National Bank Limited "UNBL UK". This was approved by the Board of Directors of UBL but is conditional on the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan . Today, UBL is the largest bank in the private sector in Pakistan and has over 1,390 branches nationwide, 18 overseas branches, a significant presence throughout the Middle East, and representative offices in Beijing and Kazakhstan. UBL formerly used to have subsidiaries in

795-535: The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reported that the files shows that two Philippine remittance agents Philrem Service Corp. (Philrem) and Werquick Inc. sent more than $ 1   billion of what were deemed suspicious wires from 2012 to 2016, that were coursed through their foreign currency accounts held at Philippine banks Banco de Oro (BDO), Metrobank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC). Philrem and RCBC were involved in

848-580: The Philippine National Police and Interpol in 2014 for sextortion activities. Rebagay is still a wanted fugitive. In Japan , the files also revealed a consulting firm for the Tokyo Olympic 2020 bid committee paid $ 370,000 to Papa Massata Diack, son of former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Lamine Diack that were coursed through Black Tidings,

901-675: The Sinaloa and Norte del Valle cartels . The files also describe how Barclays Bank laundered money on behalf of Arkady Rotenberg , a close associate of Vladimir Putin , who is under sanctions for his involvement in the Ukrainian crisis . The BBC further notes that the UK is judged a "higher risk jurisdiction" due to the number of the country's companies appearing in SARs. The Times of Malta reported that €647m worth of transfers by Afren into Electrogas were flagged as suspicious. It

954-550: The United States government for not forcing the banks to stop this activity. BuzzFeed and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have also reported that American Express , Bank of America , Bank of China , Barclays , China Investment Corporation , Citibank , Commerzbank , Danske Bank , First Republic Bank , Société Générale , VEB.RF and Wells Fargo as being involved in

1007-596: The illicit transfer of stolen funds from the Bangladesh Bank in 2016. It was also reported that overseas proceeds from a sextortion scheme that were sent by wire transfer into U.S. banks amounting to more than $ 400,000 into the accounts of a certain Philippine criminal syndicate led by Charvel Yap Rebagay. His company, Digital Minds and its call centers offices across the Philippines were raided by

1060-410: The 1990s. The FinCEN documents show 646 of 2,100 Scottish and English company SARs are linked to this Irish company, the largest number of any such entity. As for his relationship to money laundering, the company founder likens himself to the innocent seller of a criminal getaway car. The files revealed that US banks have notified their authorities of around $ 160   million that has gone through

1113-531: The Bestway Group increased its shareholding in UBL to 61.37% by acquiring an additional 10.3% of the shares from the Abu Dhabi Group. Through an investment of over $ 120 million, the Bestway Group acquired the entire shareholding of its former joint venture partner, the Abu Dhabi Group. In June 2014, the Government of Pakistan sold its remaining 19.8% stake in UBL for US$ 387 million ($ 310m of which

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1166-875: The China Connect Interface, allowing Chinese investors to more easily enter Pakistan's stock markets. Notable companies in which PSX owns controlling or significant minority stakes include: FinCEN Files The FinCEN Files are documents from the U.S. Treasury 's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), that have been leaked to BuzzFeed News and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and published globally on 20 September 2020. The 2,657 leaked documents include 2,121 suspicious activity reports (SARs) covering over 200,000 suspicious financial transactions between 1999 and 2017 valued at over US$ 2   trillion by multiple global financial institutions. The BuzzFeed News report concludes that

1219-558: The China Investment Corporation, The Bank of New York Mellon and Standard Chartered. In Malaysia, the Malay Mail reported that several international banks had been flagged in numerous suspicious transactions involving fugitive Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho , involving 103 transactions worth US$ 2.53   billion. The banks involved included Citibank , Deutsche Bank , HSBC , JPMorgan Chase , and

1272-666: The FinCEN Files includes Canadian Broadcasting Corporation' s reporting on HSBC and coverage by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was reported that Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos was flagged for money laundering in 2013. It was reported that US$ 167   million of possibly dirty money flowed through two Australian banks: Macquarie Group (US$ 123   million) and Commonwealth Bank (US$ 44   million). The Indian Express reported that Jindal Steel and Power

1325-688: The Global Depository Receipts of UBL were listed on the London Stock Exchange . The offering targeted institutional investors and raised exceeding US$ 650 million. UBL is the only Pakistani bank and one of the only two Pakistani companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange. In April 2010, UBL launched UBL Omni, an in-house developed project designed to provide banking facilities to the unbanked population of Pakistan. As of June 2014 UBL Omni had

1378-403: The ICIJ state that the files flag over 200,000 transactions dating from 1999 to 2017, worth a total of US$ 2   trillion. Furthermore, they noted that the findings may not be representative of all SARs, as the files received are less than 0.02% of the more than 12   million SARs that financial institutions filed with FinCEN during this period. The Miami Herald said that the files "are

1431-618: The PSX as well as 21 asset management companies. Founded on 18 September 1947, Karachi Stock Exchange Limited (KSE) was registered in Pakistan . It was located at the Stock Exchange Building (SEB) on Stock Exchange Road, in the heart of Karachi 's business district off I. I. Chundrigar Road (then known as McLeod Rd). Since its establishment, the number of members at the KSE had been capped at 200, with each member possessing

1484-531: The SARs. The ICIJ noted 62% of the leaked filings involved Deutsche Bank, with at least 20% involving addresses in the British Virgin Islands . Prominent individuals highlighted in the leaks include former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort , Iranian - Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab , Malaysian businessman Jho Low , and alleged Russian organised crime boss Semion Mogilevich . Other reporting on national connections to

1537-675: The SECP issued the Companies (Buy-back of Shares) Rules, 1999, which established detailed regulations and procedures for corporate share repurchases, commonly known as treasury stock . In 2002, Alhamd Textile Mills, a textile company based in Multan , became the first company in the history of stock exchange to buy back shares from its shareholders under these new regulations. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) came into existence in January 2016 when

1590-590: The Treasury that collects and analyses financial information to combat money laundering , terrorism financing , evasion of economic sanctions and other financial crimes . Financial institutions are required to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) with FinCEN when they suspect their clients are engaging in financial crime. These SARs are not evidence of a crime, but the FinCEN claims they provide vital information to investigate crimes. Unauthorized disclosure of

1643-535: The US government. The BBC stated it shows how the "world's biggest banks have allowed criminals to move dirty money around the world". BuzzFeed News claimed the files "offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it, and the government agencies that watch as it flourishes." Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of

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1696-568: The United Kingdom and Switzerland and a branch in New York. United Bank was named in the FinCEN Files , published by BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). It had eight suspicious transactions from 2011 to 2012 flagged, totaling to $ 399,620. Pakistan Stock Exchange The Pakistan Stock Exchange ( PSX ) ( Urdu : پاکستان اسٹاک ایکسچینج ), founded as Karachi Stock Exchange ( KSE ),

1749-772: The aim to reform the capital markets . Khalid Mirza was appointed as SECP Chairman in March 2000. Upon taking office, Mirza found the Karachi Stock Exchange characterized by extensive market manipulation and unethical practices. Despite a market capitalization of only $ 6 billion, it exhibited extreme volatility and high turnover, with trading concentrated in just 30 of the 765 listed stocks. Malpractices such as fund diversion, absence of margin requirements, and predatory lending were common, disadvantaging small investors. Commercial banks were involved in lending to brokers who engaged in exploitative practices like "cornering." Shareholder meetings were often delayed or not held, and there

1802-544: The country. The banks included Public Bank Berhad , AmBank , HSBC Bank Malaysia , Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad , United Overseas Bank , CIMB Bank , and Standard Chartered. The flagged transactions going in and out of these Malaysian banks involved overseas accounts in countries including Afghanistan , Latvia , Poland , the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States . In the Philippines ,

1855-401: The documents appear to show that both the banks that filed the SARs and FinCEN had this financial intelligence but did little to stop activities such as money laundering . The SARs were generated by financial institutions in more than 170 countries that played a role in facilitating money laundering and other fraudulent crimes. Journalists around the world have criticized both the banks and

1908-465: The exchange, controlling 60 percent of its board of directors even after new SECP regulations aimed to limit their management role. The SECP was granted authority to regulate accountants, but penalties for misconduct remained minimal, at $ 30 per offense. Mirza and his team faced entrenched vested interests resistant to reform, and challenges in enforcing transparency and accountability in Pakistan's financial markets continued. On December 14, 1999,

1961-484: The extent that information referenced by the ICIJ is derived from SARs, this is information that is pro-actively identified and submitted by banks to governments pursuant to the law. SARs are alerts of potential issues, not proven facts." Standard Chartered responded to these accusations, claiming "we take our responsibility to fight financial crime extremely seriously." They state that they meet their obligations to law enforcement, and say that "the responsibility of banks

2014-553: The files revealed Deutsche Bank was a major source for money laundering for organised crime, terrorists and drug traffickers. In Ireland , The Irish Times reported of a Dublin business called International Overseas Services Group (IOS), an international company services operation, whose office in Riga , Latvia , helped clients from Russia and the former Soviet Union establish secret accounts with Estonian and Latvian banks, with United Kingdom LLP shell companies formed back in

2067-448: The issues and made changes to our business perimeter, our controls, and our personnel." They invested "$ 1   billion in improved controls, trainings and operational processes, and have increased our anti-financial crime team to over 1,500 people." and make the claim that they "are a different bank now." They followed their response up with an additional statement, restating their commitment to ensuring fraud does not occur and saying "To

2120-499: The laundering practices were "just some of the routine business practices on Wall Street" and that the "business model of Wall Street is fraud." Linda A. Lacewell the superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, said in an opinion piece that "Individual bankers are rarely held accountable, so money laundering becomes a source of profits and bank fines become a cost of doing business, when

2173-465: The most detailed U.S. Treasury records ever leaked." BuzzFeed News reported that records had been gathered both during the U.S. Congress investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and through requests from law enforcement agencies. BuzzFeed News has named " JPMorgan Chase , HSBC , Standard Chartered , Deutsche Bank , and Bank of New York Mellon " as involved in money laundering. BuzzFeed News also criticizes

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2226-513: The partly state-owned DNB group. The transactions via DNB took place mainly from 2015 to 2017. Some transfers date back to 2008. A report by the BBC suggests that the FinCen Files reveal that the United Kingdom bank HSBC was involved in numerous illegal money transfers. At the time, HSBC was subject to a deferred prosecution agreement for the laundering of $ 881   million on behalf of

2279-598: The profits exceed the fines, the business choice is easily corrupted." On 9 October 2020, the European Parliament held a hearing over the issues raised by the leak. On 21 September 2020 numerous bank stocks plunged as a result of the leaks. HSBC shares dropped to lowest levels in 25 years. In June 2021 an employee of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network named Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards admitted to leaking

2332-497: The shares from the Abu Dhabi Group. This was a total investment of US$ 230.0 million in Pakistan's second-largest private commercial bank. The Bank added 200 branches in 2011 and 2012, thus increasing its domestic network to over 1,300 online branches with 800 ATMs. In June 2012, UBL led a consortium which acquired a 67.4% stake in Khushhali Bank, which is the largest micro-finance institution in Pakistan. In December 2013,

2385-404: Was a trend of companies delisting and liquidating assets, contributing to economic decline. His efforts to reform the capital markets faced significant resistance, including public protests from stock exchange brokers who labeled him an "American agent." Despite efforts to clean up the market, significant issues persisted. Manipulation continued, and brokers maintained substantial influence over

2438-451: Was acknowledged by [European Union] institutions at the time." FinCEN condemned the leak, saying that it could affect US national security and compromise the safety of those filing FinCEN reports. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both called for reform. Senator Warren pushed for punishments when banks are caught breaking the law and called for the passage of her "Ending Too Big to Jail Act" bill. Bernie Sanders stated that

2491-782: Was alleged to have laundered money for the Taliban . The Central Bank of the UAE failed to act on SARs related to evading sanctions in Iran . The files showed new details related to the Danske Bank money laundering scandal . ICIJ and Deutsche Welle report that Germany's Deutsche Bank accounted for 62% of the leaked SARs. Deutsche Welle further notes that Deutsche Bank was responsible for $ 1.3   trillion worth of suspicious transactions, even after hundreds of millions in fines for violating US sanctions. BuzzFeed News also reported that

2544-407: Was controlled by Alex Saab and Álvaro Pulido . NBC News reported that North Korea laundered money through US banks via shell companies and Chinese firms. BuzzFeed News contacted the named banks for responses to the allegations. American Express and Bank of China did not respond; Bank of America and First Republic Bank declined to comment. Even as the worldwide group of journalists

2597-1095: Was flagged by Deutsche Bank for money laundering. The SARs, with additional investigations by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project , also provide further details on the scheme employed by Reza Zarrab to evade economic sanctions on Iran , and its links with the Magnitsky tax fraud and other Russian money laundering schemes. In Macau , the Macau News Agency (MNA) reported that 62 transactions involving more than US$ 68.2   million that flowed to or from four banks in Macau between 2000 and 2017 were flagged as potentially suspicious money-laundering transactions. The banks included Bank of China, Banco Nacional Ultramarino , Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) , and HSBC Macau. All these transactions were processed through three American-based financial institutions, that filed SARs with FinCEN by

2650-772: Was in foreign exchange). This was Pakistan's first transaction in the global equity market in almost eight years. In 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) filed a criminal case against Khalid Iqbal, head of capital markets at United Bank Limited, and three of his accomplices for front running . The case involved two unusual purchases of Gharibwal Cement Limited shares by UBL, authorized by Iqbal. Investigations revealed that Iqbal's accomplices bought shares at lower prices and sold them to UBL at higher prices. The court convicted all four individuals, concluding that they made illegal profits and caused financial losses to UBL. In November 2018, UBL announced that it

2703-404: Was preparing their reporting of the FinCEN Files, FinCEN announced on 16 September 2020 that they would be overhauling their money laundering programs. Deutsche Bank commented on the FinCEN investigation, explaining that the transactions in the FinCEN file leaks were prior to 2016, and "acknowledged past weaknesses in our control environment... we learnt from our mistakes, systematically tackled

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2756-537: Was reported that the Argentinian company Vicentin was flagged for money laundering. Javier Mascherano was reportedly flagged for money laundering for more than $ 1   million in transactions by his British Virgin Islands -registered company, Alenda Investments Ltd. The FinCEN Files implicate former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto in money laundering. The files revealed that Group Grand Limited

2809-493: Was voluntarily shutting down its New York City branch due to it being commercially nonviable to operate. UBL announced on 12 June 2021 that it was winding up its wholly owned Switzerland subsidiary, UBL (Switzerland) AG, which it had owned since 1967. The process completed on 2 June 2023. UBL announced on 12 September 2023 that its largest shareholder, Bestway Group , had submitted an "Indicative Offer" to acquire UBL's 55% shareholding in its United Kingdom joint venture with

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