ABN Amro confirms probe by US regulators
Washington DC: ABN Amro, the Netherlands' largest bank, has confirmed that it is under investigation by US regulators for possible violations of laws to prevent money laundering.

The US Federal Reserve has alleged that it had improperly moved money of suspicious origin through the financial system via its New York City branch.

The bank, which is the world's 20th largest with some $600 billion in assets, did not however provide details of the regulators' investigation.

The Wall Street Journal had reported in September that the bank's New York branch had quietly cut its ties with nearly 100 banks in Russia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean amid the US authorities' investigations of its dealings with foreign financial institutions.

ABN Amro had agreed to sever the relationships under its accord with the Federal Reserve. According to The Journal, ABN Amro's former ties with loosely regulated banks in Latvia, which experts consider a haven for Russian money laundering, were of particular interest in these investigations.

The Dutch bank's profit in the July-September period rose to $1.35 billion from $964 million a year earlier.
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