CROSSHAIRS: Santander has been slated for a €40 million fine by Spain's AML watchdog over issues at the lender's online unit, Openbank. Our file photo shows a woman walk past Santander bank branch.
SEPBLAC, Spain’s AML agency, has fined Santander €40 million due to several AML issues at Openbank, its only-only unit.
A Santander spokesperson said Sepblac had conducted a “review” of Openbank’s internal procedures.
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The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority will simplify the rules for smaller banks.
Finanstilsynet
As part of its strategy, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority is now initiating a project that will enable smaller and non-complex banks in Denmark to be covered by simpler and more proportional regulation.
Financial regulation, most of which is established in the EU, has expanded significantly since the financial crisis. The starting point of the regulation is uniform rules across EU countries regardless of the size of the institutions, although with certain possibilities for proportionality. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority is now initiating work to identify areas where smaller and non-complex Danish banks, which typically do not operate internationally, can be covered by simpler and more proportional frameworks than today.
Eight men jailed over global crime syndicate’s failed plot to traffic $1.7 billion worth of meth into Australia
Australia Federal Police
Eight men have been imprisoned in Australia for a combined 95 years and seven months following an international investigation into an organised crime syndicate's failed 2023 plot to traffic more than six tonnes of methamphetamine in bottles of canola oil.
A New South Wales man, 27, is the final syndicate member to be prosecuted in Australia and was sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment in Coffs Harbour District Court today (18 February, 2026). He will serve a non-parole period of two years and six months.