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Sept. 25, 2013 – Fines totaling $8.2 million are being assessed against Saddle River Valley Bank in Saddle River, N.J., over $1.5 billion worth of transactions that were not monitored adequately or reported under the Bank Secrecy Act.

The fines were announced Tuesday. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency assessed $4.1 million, and the U.S. attorney's office for district of New Jersey assessed $4.1 million. FinCEN said the combined $8.2 million in fines represents most of the bank's remaining assets.

In its announcement, FinCEN said the bank executed $1.5 billion worth of inadequately monitored transactions on behalf of Mexican and Dominican casas de cambio – foreign money exchange houses – despite publicly available information, including a FinCEN advisory, that explained the heightened risks of dealing with the institutions.

FinCEN said the bank "willfully violated aspects of the BSA's program, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements." The bank had no effective anti-money laundering program in place to manage the risk of money laundering and other illicit activity, did not conduct adequate due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts and failed to detect and adequately report suspicious activities in the foreign money exchange house accounts in a timely manner, FinCEN said.

The violations occurred from 2009 through May 2011.