WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has proposed a rule that would sever Swiss bank MBaer Merchant Bank AG's access to the U.S. financial system for providing financial support to illicit actors linked to Russia and Iran. If finalized, the proposed rule would prohibit covered U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for, or on behalf of, MBaer.
'MBaer has funneled over a hundred million dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of illicit actors tied to Iran and Russia,' said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. 'Banks should be on notice that the U.S. Treasury will aggressively protect the integrity of the U.S. financial system using the full force of our authorities.'
The Treasury alleged that since its inception, MBaer and its employees have enabled money laundering and illicit finance activities, including by facilitating corruption linked to Russian money laundering and money laundering and terrorist financing on behalf of Iran-aligned foreign terrorist organizations, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force. MBaer is a critical access node to the U.S. dollar for a wide variety of illicit actors, putting U.S. national security at risk and undermining the integrity of the U.S. financial system.
Under section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, FinCEN published a notice of proposed rule-making to impose special measure, which would prohibit covered domestic financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for or on behalf of MBaer.
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