Qonto receives order from Banca d’Italia to improve AML measures in its Italian subsidiary
French business banking fintech Qonto says it has received an order from Banca d’Italia, Italy’s central bank, to improve its anti-money laundering (AML) measures in its Italian subsidiary.
Qonto told to improve AML measures in its Italian subsidiary
As a result of the order, the firm has also been temporarily banned from onboarding new customers in Italy starting 25 July 2024.
In a translated statement on the company’s Italian website, Qonto says: “On July 25, 2024, the Bank of Italy ordered Qonto’s Italian branch to suspend the onboarding of new clients and identified areas for improvement in our anti-money laundering measures.
“This temporarily prevents us from offering new products and services to existing clients of our Italian branch until the identified deficiencies are rectified.”
The company adds that existing customers in Italy “are not affected and can use all Qonto business and financial banking services as usual”, reassuring existing users that their “funds are and will always be safe with Qonto”.
“The special order issued by Banca d’Italia concerns anti-money laundering measures that do not affect existing clients’ funds,” it says, adding that the order “only requires us to improve anti-money laundering measures and policies in Italy”.
Qonto says the temporary onboarding ban is expected to be “lifted as soon as the shortcomings identified by Banca d’Italia are remedied”.
“Over the past few months, Qonto has already started to address any issues highlighted by Banca d’Italia and has invested even more in AML measures in Italy,” the fintech writes.
“Today, we are more engaged than ever, and local and global teams are already working closely with the Italian authority to implement the requested improvements.”
Founded in 2016, Qonto claims to serve over 500,000 European enterprises with a range of banking services including invoice and expense management, bookkeeping, and business accounts.
