|
The financial regulator said on Friday that an investigation
it had carried out last year had concluded that financial
institutions ran much larger "integrity risks" when dealing with
clients from the soccer sector and certain other sports.
The warning comes in the wake of bribery and match-fixing
scandals that have rocked the world's most popular and wealthy
sport, toppling the leadership of global governing body FIFA.
The DNB said that banks should "apply a higher risk
classification" to clients from soccer or its periphery and
urged institutions to monitor more closely transactions between
soccer clubs or involving the management of international soccer
organizations.
The regulator said that 17 out of 19 banks and corporate
services providers it had surveyed had no specific
risk-management measures in place for dealing with sports
clients, creating a risk, "knowingly or unknowingly," of
becoming an accessory to money laundering.
Transactions of particular concern involved the player transfer
market, where a lack of transparency made it easy to conceal
extra costs. Banks should also look at the source of the cash
when wealthy individuals bought clubs, the DNB said.
The investigation did not look for specific instances of money
laundering because it was focused on risks posed to financial
institutions themselves.
Other sports also presented a heightened risk of corruption, it
said, particularly those involving large sums of money, highly
paid players or a closed culture. The entertainment industry
also posed similar risks, the DNB added. (Reporting By Thomas
Escritt; Editing by David Goodman)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
