Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (AG) has imposed a fine on Pictet Bank for organisational shortcomings that facilitated money laundering.
In a statement, the office said: “Pictet Bank was sentenced to a fine of SFr2m ($2.4m) for failing to take all reasonable and necessary measures to prevent these acts from being committed.”
This decision is part of the broader “Lava Jato” corruption investigation centred in Brazil.
The investigation revealed that from June 2010 to May 2013, over $4.1m from corrupt payments were transferred from a Brazilian public official’s account at Pictet Bank.
These funds were moved to conceal their criminal origin, the AG’s office said.
The former relationship manager at Pictet Bank was also found guilty of aggravated money laundering.
A penalty order dated 17 June 2025 sentenced the former manager, who was head of the Brazilian market since January 2013, to a six-month suspended custodial sentence with a two-year probation period.
The manager approved 54 transfers to accounts in Switzerland and abroad, the office said, adding that
the funds were channelled through Swiss bank accounts held by offshore companies, one of which was at Pictet Bank.
These transfers were intended to conceal the criminal origin of the assets. Organisational shortcomings at Pictet Bank enabled this money laundering, the office claimed.
The statement went on to say: “These shortcomings manifested themselves in the failure to classify as high risk the accounts held respectively by the Brazilian public official and the intermediary, as well as failures in the monitoring of the above-mentioned 54 transfers.”
Both the former relationship manager and Pictet Bank have stated they will not appeal the penalty and partial abandonment of proceedings order.
Based in Geneva, Pictet Bank is an independent group established in 1805.
As an investment group, the company specialises in wealth management, asset management, and related services, without involvement in investment banking or commercial lending.
In May, Pictet expanded its digital capabilities with the launch of a new financial technology hub in Lisbon.
<!– –>
