How to deal with money laundering from the UK via intermediaries

Bursatile, a British bank, has been accused of laundering money for a London-based terrorist group that is linked to al Qaeda.

The U.K. government said Thursday it is investigating a London bank that it said has facilitated money laundering through intermediaries to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Bursatille has not responded to requests for comment.

Bengaluru-based Ummi Bank, another UK-based bank, is also under investigation.

It is the second Ummis Bank to be investigated by the government for facilitating money laundering for ISIS and other terrorist groups.

The bank and a third bank linked to it were named in a government report published on Tuesday that said the two institutions were involved in a series of transactions totaling about $7.6 million.

The third bank, named as Ummity Financial, is believed to have handled a similar amount of transactions, the report said.

Burbank, whose chairman, Rajat Gupta, has long been a critic of British financial practices, said Thursday that it has not engaged in money laundering.

The bank said it had not been approached by any government officials for any information on the investigation.

It is not known how much money was involved in the transactions, said a spokesman for the bank, which did not respond to requests seeking comment.

It has also not provided any information about its financial activities or business operations, the spokesman said.

Investigations have been ongoing for several months, the London-headquartered regulator said.

It said it has “proactively sought” information from Bursaile and Ummit Bank, but that it was unclear how much of their business was involved.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday accused China-based Niantic, an augmented social network, of aiding and abetting terrorism and money laundering, after the Chinese company announced it would acquire the San Francisco-based game maker Zynga Inc. for $5.9 billion.