This week our Professor and Secretary of the IUNIT Center Mr. Zhoujie Ma Zhou has received the Sections 2021 Award from the Madrid Bar Association in the Compliance Section with his work on «The cancellation of bank accounts as a measure to prevent money laundering and its collision with the right of universal access to basic banking services».

  • In a context of economic recession and the emergency caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, banks are trying to reduce their operating costs to increase their profits. In order to minimize the risks derived from non-compliance with regulations on the prevention of money laundering and reduce the associated supervision costs, some banking entities are unilaterally canceling the accounts of less attractive customers from a commercial point of view. However, the application of this type of measure is certainly controversial, since it collides with the right of universal access to basic banking services by these customers.
    Therefore, the objective of this research work focuses on the study of the legality and relevance of the money laundering prevention measure based on the cancellation of bank accounts, the analysis of the problems derived from its collision with the right of universal access to basic banking services, as well as the jurisprudential doctrine regarding the justification and proportionality requirements for the application of this type of measures.

 

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