MUFG to ditch over-the-counter international cash transfers to strengthen AML efforts: report

Bank users may continue to send money overseas online through a stricter process.

MUFG Bank will reportedly cease its over-the-counter international cash transfer services by May as part of its crusade against money laundering, reports Japan Today.

According to the sources, MUFG Bank will set a more stringent process be more stringent by asking more detailed questions when customers open new accounts. Bank users will be able to continue sending money overseas online and from their accounts opened under the stricter identity verification process.

Also read: Japanese regional banks eye information sharing to combat financial crime

The Financial Services Agency has been beefing up its monitoring of the anti-money laundering strategies of banks in the midst of the preparation for an assessment by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international standard-setting body that promotes steps to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. 

In 2014, FATF pointed that Japan has inadequate domestic legislation and called for the country to block the domestic transfer of money linked to terrorism.