South African banks fined $12m over lax money laundering controls

The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) has levied fines worth a total of $12 million on four of the country's biggest banks for their failure to implement sufficient checks to ensure their customers are not laundering the proceeds of criminal activities or financing terrorism.

The largest fine was handed to Standard Bank, which has been ordered to pay 60 million rand ($5.7 million), and "take remedial action to address deficiencies" in areas that include verifying customers' details, maintaining