The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) announced on Monday (August 25) that Dutch online bank Bunq has been fined €2.6 million (equivalent to $3.04 million) for weaknesses in its anti-money laundering controls.

Bunq stated that it does not agree with the Dutch Central Bank's decision and has formally lodged an objection.

The Dutch Central Bank noted that the fine targets "serious deficiencies" in four cases during the period from January 2021 to May 2022, where Bunq failed to properly investigate and report potential signs of financial crime.

The Dutch Central Bank also stated that previous investigations had already identified multiple similar violations by Bunq, and despite having been previously fined and receiving other warnings, the bank still failed to address the relevant issues.

A spokesperson for the online bank said in a statement: "At Bunq, we take our role as 'financial gatekeeper' very seriously."

"We employ cutting-edge technology and continuously strengthen our systems - including improvements made in response to these cases from 2021 to 2022. We remain confident in our position."

In recent years, several of the Netherlands' largest banks, such as ING and ABN Amro, have been hit with substantial fines for anti-money laundering control weaknesses. Subsequently, Dutch banks have significantly strengthened their anti-money laundering monitoring efforts.

In April this year, Rabobank announced that it would face court proceedings for allegedly failing to identify money laundering activities, after being unable to reach a settlement with prosecutors regarding anti-money laundering regulatory weaknesses.