Bank Negara Malaysia penalises AmBank, AmBank Islamic and Smile Honesty Forex for AML/CFT breaches
Bank Negara Malaysia announced on 28 October 2026 penalties of RM276,000 each on AmBank (M) Berhad and AmBank Islamic Berhad for late cash threshold reports, and a separate RM8,400 penalty on Smile Honesty Forex Sdn. Bhd. for failing to carry out customer due diligence.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Malaysia's central bank, said that on 10 September 2026 it imposed administrative monetary penalties of RM276,000 each on AmBank (M) Berhad and AmBank Islamic Berhad, which it referred to together as AmBank Group, for failure to promptly submit cash threshold reports (CTR). A CTR is a report a financial institution files with the authorities about cash transactions above a set amount. BNM said reporting institutions are required to submit CTRs to BNM within 5 working days from the date of the transaction. According to BNM, AmBank and AmBank Islamic each paid the RM276,000 penalty on 22 September 2026. BNM published the action on 28 October 2026.
BNM said the breaches were identified through AmBank Group's own review of its transaction and regulatory reporting records. BNM attributed the breaches to lapses in technology implementation arising from inadequate oversight on system changes. In setting the penalties, BNM said it considered the severity of the breaches, a lack of reasonable care in ensuring compliance with AML/CFT/CPF requirements, AmBank Group's past compliance record, and its conduct after the breaches, including self-reporting and the effectiveness of its remedial measures. BNM said AmBank Group has since submitted the omitted CTRs to BNM, enhanced its standard operating procedures and systems, and strengthened its control frameworks and oversight.
In a separate release on the same day, BNM said that on 24 September 2026 it imposed an administrative monetary penalty of RM8,400 on Smile Honesty Forex Sdn. Bhd. for failure to conduct customer due diligence (CDD), the checks a firm must run to identify and understand its customers. According to BNM, the company failed to conduct CDD on a customer in relation to a currency exchange transaction due to staff oversight. BNM said it discovered the breach during an on-site supervisory examination. The company paid the penalty on 7 October 2026, and BNM said the company has since strengthened its internal controls to address the identified gaps.
Why it matters to AML professionals
Threshold reports are a fixed legal duty, and a change to a bank's systems can quietly stop them from being filed on time. AML professionals who own regulatory reporting need checks that confirm reports still flow correctly after every system change, not only when a regulator asks. The smaller case shows that missing the required customer checks on even one transaction can also lead to a penalty.
Red flags in this case
- A sudden drop in the number of cash threshold reports filed, with no matching drop in cash activity
- Regulatory reports that stop or shrink soon after a core banking or reporting system change
- Cash transactions at or above the reporting threshold with no linked report in the reporting log
- Currency exchange transactions completed without customer identification records on file
If this landed in your queue
- Reconcile cash transactions above the reporting threshold against the reports actually filed for the same period
- Check whether any system or data change went live around the time a reporting gap started
- File any missed reports promptly and record the root cause, the fix and who approved it
- Escalate the gap to the compliance officer so the firm can decide whether to self-report to the regulator
What control failed
Governance and oversight. BNM attributed AmBank Group's failure to promptly submit cash threshold reports to lapses in technology implementation arising from inadequate oversight on system changes.
Key terms
- Cash threshold report (CTR)
- A report a financial institution must file with the authorities about cash transactions above a set amount, whether or not they look suspicious.
- Administrative monetary penalty (AMP)
- A fine a regulator imposes directly for a breach of the rules, without going to court.
- Customer due diligence (CDD)
- The checks a firm carries out to identify a customer, verify who they are and understand the purpose of their business.
Interview angle
Your bank is moving to a new core banking system. How would you make sure regulatory reports such as cash threshold reports keep being filed correctly?
Describe testing reporting logic before go-live, running the old and new systems in parallel, reconciling report counts against transaction data after go-live, giving clear ownership of reporting to a named team, and escalating any gap quickly, including the option of self-reporting to the regulator.
Sources
- Bank Negara Malaysia: Imposition of Administrative Monetary Penalties on AmBank (M) Berhad and AmBank Islamic Berhad (28 October 2026)
- Bank Negara Malaysia: Imposition of Administrative Monetary Penalty on Smile Honesty Forex Sdn. Bhd. for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Breach (28 October 2026)
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