RBC Capital Markets, LLC (CRD #31194, New York, New York) was censured and fined $275,000 after an AWC found the firm failed to develop and implement an anti-money laundering compliance program reasonably designed to detect and cause the reporting of suspicious transactions, according to FINRA's September 2026 disciplinary report.
The AWC was issued on July 28, 2026 under FINRA Case #2022075967301. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings described below.
RBC Capital Markets AML Monitoring Rule Findings
According to the AWC, RBC Capital Markets introduced three new transaction monitoring rules intended to identify red flags of suspicious money movements. The firm configured the parameters and thresholds of these monitoring rules in a manner that did not capture many of the types of transactions the rules were intended to detect, the findings state. As a result, the monitoring rules either failed to generate useful alerts or otherwise did not identify red flags of suspicious money movements that the firm should have investigated.
The findings state that in practice, the firm failed to effectively review the monitoring rules to determine whether the rules were identifying suspicious money movements in customer accounts so as to enable the firm to investigate and report the suspicious transactions. FINRA found that the firm delegated to two different groups responsibilities for assessing the effectiveness of the transaction monitoring rules and for decommissioning ineffective rules, but the firm did not have procedures for the two groups to coordinate or escalate concerns. Consequently, per the report, the three rules that failed to generate useful alerts remained in place for years and the firm failed to identify, investigate, and report suspicious transactions that these rules were designed to detect.
BrokerCheck shows the firm ultimately updated its procedures to require periodic assessments of its automated transaction monitoring rules to determine whether they are effectively enabling the firm to detect and cause the reporting of suspicious transactions.
Prior Regulatory Matters On RBC Capital Markets' BrokerCheck Report
BrokerCheck lists several earlier, separate regulatory matters involving RBC Capital Markets. On July 2, 2024, under docket #2019063914601, the firm consented, without admitting or denying the findings, to the entry of findings that its supervisory system did not provide certain customers with mutual fund sales charge waivers and fee rebates to which they were entitled through rights of reinstatement offered.
On April 29, 2024, under docket #2015046503001, the firm consented, without admitting or denying the findings, to the entry of findings that it sent trade confirmations to customers that contained inaccurate information, per the disclosure.
On July 11, 2023, under docket #2021071191801, FINRA found that the firm filed short interest reports that overreported the number of shares associated with short interest positions. The findings state that the firm submitted short interest reports to FINRA that erroneously included short positions in accounts resulting from repurchase and pledge transactions and securities lending conducted by the firm or its affiliates, and syndicate activity of correspondent firms for which it clears. The firm consented to the sanctions without admitting or denying the findings.
BrokerCheck also lists a matter dated June 5, 2023, under docket #2022-03-17-00037, in which the firm, referred to as RBCCM, consented without admitting or denying the findings to the entry of findings; the disclosure text available does not specify further details of that entry.
Sanctions Imposed On RBC Capital Markets
For the AML compliance program findings described in FINRA Case #2022075967301, RBC Capital Markets was censured and fined $275,000.
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Sources
This post summarizes public records published by FINRA, including BrokerCheck, as of September 26, 2026. Findings in a FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent are made in a settlement in which the respondent neither admits nor denies them. The records may be updated or corrected after this date.
