U.S. Treasury proposes rule to sever Swiss bank MBaer Merchant Bank AG’s access to the U.S. financial system over alleged money‑laundering and illicit‑finance ties to Iran and Russia

Through a notice of proposed rulemaking under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) finds reasonable grounds to designate MBaer as a financial institution of “primary money-laundering concern” and proposes prohibiting U.S. financial institutions from maintaining correspondent accounts for the bank. Treasury states that MBaer has moved over $100 million through the U.S. financial system for illicit actors linked to Russian corruption networks and Iran-aligned terrorist organisations…